A Mentor In Training

by Leitbur

While reflecting on the events in his own life, Kite encounters a young group of players who he unknowingly becomes mentor to. Complete

19. Epilogue

A Mentor in Training – Epilogue

Again, to all of you who have supported this story, thank you.

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Standing in the doorway to her brother's hospital room, Rumiko Kunagi held back her tears with an ease that was starting to bother her. The first time she'd visited Kenji with her parents, the tears refused to stop, but slowly after so many visits, she was learning not to cry, it was becoming easier, a routine even, and that was the problem. She shouldn't have to get used to something like this.

It had been more than a month since that crazed hacker Liet had done this to Kenji, but Helba had dealt with him already. Kite had promised he's find a solution as soon as he could, and while it warmed her heart to know that he was so concerned, a part of her knew that he'd do it just as fast without Kenji as a reason.

"Rumi, are you all right dear? Do you want to come in and see your brother?"

Rumiko's mind returned to her present location and glanced at her mother, then her brother, and back again. "No thanks Mom, not just now anyway. I think I'm going to just go get a breath of fresh air, then I'll be back up to see him."

"Ok dear, just be careful."

Rumiko nodded. "Thanks Mom, I will."

While she could use a breath of fresh air, Rumiko knew the real reason she left was far more dubious. She simply didn't want to see her brother like that anymore, her big, strong, kind older brother who had always there in troubled times to give his support, lying in a coma, no change whatsoever. Ironically, it was just this sort of situation that she would have gone to Kenji to get advice. Life was full of irony that way though. Perhaps the gods were trying to tell her to rely less on other people. Well she'd figure it out eventually.

A commotion of voices from down another hallway adjoining to the one she was walking down suddenly caught Rumiko's attention. Stopping and glancing down the hallway, the young teenager spotted a doctor in some type of argument with a pair of police officers. They were standing outside another open doorway. Sneaking a few steps closer, she began to listen in.

"I'll say it again, there's been no change in his condition. I'm amazed he's even alive frankly. When and if he comes to, and that's a big if, I will be sure to notify both you and the rest of the proper authorities in this manner."

One of the two officers sighed, "Are you sure there's no way to revive him? Not only has he just popped up in our system for tax evasion, but it looks like he may have something to do with international smuggling. On top of all that, we got an anonymous tip saying he knows something about all the problems people have been having with the internet, and communications worldwide. Hell, he may even be one of those hackers who created this epidemic."

The other officer added in, "Yeah, uh, what he said. You're not trying to cover for him are you doc?"

Slightly taken aback by the officer's insinuation, the doctor took a deep breath and upon exhaling answered, "Look, I told you last time, he's comatose after suffering severe electrical burns to both his eyes and his temples. From your own report, when you broke into his home you found him with those neuro-goggles on his head. Somehow the goggles overloaded or short-circuited or something causing an intense electrical discharge that basically fried his brain. There's nothing in medical science that can revive him, if he comes out, it'll be on his own doing. Trust me though, he's not going anywhere."

Then catching movement out of the corner of his eye, the doctor turned his head and spotted Rumiko. Glad for an opportunity to get out of this conversation, he said, "Excuse me young miss, are you lost? This is a restricted area."

Gulping as the two officers turned to look at her, Rumiko turned and bolted back around the corner, not stopping until she reached the elevator. Blinking at her departure, the one officer said, "That was strange, you think maybe she knew the guy, or knows something about all this?"

Laughing, the other officer replied, "Are you kidding, what would a silly girl like that know about anything? She was probably just checking you out Sato." The pair both chuckled at that for a moment, then returned their attention to the doctor.

As her elevator reached the ground floor, Rumiko took a deep breath and sighed in relief. That could have been trouble. Stepping out of the elevator and turning towards the front doors at the other end of the lobby, Rumiko waved to Yumiko, the nice receptionist behind the front desk who she'd gotten to know somewhat well since she started coming here. The girl was working here to help pay for medical school, and was very sweet. "Hello Yumi!"

"Hi Rumi, how's your brother? Any change?"

Rumiko shook her head. "No, I'm just going to get some fresh air."

"Ok, hope your brother gets well soon."

"Thank you."

Moving through the doors and out into the bright sunlight, Rumiko smiled as she made her way for a bench to the side of the front entrance. Another nice thing about going outside was that she could watch the people as they moved about their lives, just like they did in a root town. So peaceful.

Then her eyes were drawn to a young couple coming up from the parking lot towards the doors. The man held a pair of books in one arm and the other was holding the young woman's hand gently. Rumiko found herself envious just watching it. The woman's other arm held what Rumiko assumed was the couple's child, who from the look had to be somewhere between one and two years old, clinging to its mother instinctually.

As they were about to reach the steps, the voice of a loud person, most likely foreign from the poor Japanese he spoke, called out at the couple. Suddenly a tall young foreigner with blonde hair and a book of his own in hand, moved towards the couple and said, "How are you today sir, ma'am? I couldn't help but notice you're carrying books. You must love to read then. Might I interest you in my latest novel, written by yours truly, Eric Leitbur. It's just about to come in stores, and will be the hottest thing out there, all over the best seller's lists. How about buying this one now, so when everyone else is reading it, you can already know how it ends?"

The man frowned, then answered, "Look sir, these books are law books, not some stupid," he paused due to a strong squeeze to his hand, "book written for pleasure. I don't read such things. She's the one who reads all the time, not me, now if you'll excuse us-"

"Oh, so you're the one who likes to read, huh ma'am." The errant author shot in, "Well then, may I say that's a very cute baby, and if I might be so bold-"

"No, you may not sir. Now please leave us alone before you upset Shizuru here. Come on Tadeoshi." With that she pushed passed the rude foreigner and walked up the steps with Tadeoshi in tow. As they passed, Rumiko gave a quick wave to the little baby girl. Seeing such cute things was always comforting, and besides, it was a nice day out and though her mother might be beginning to worry some, she could still use a little more fresh air.

The couple had not been through the doors a moment before Rumiko heard from behind her, "You there, young miss, my name is Eric Leitbur and I was wondering…"

Groaning inwardly as fear and panic of such levels as she had never even faced in 'The World' hit her, Rumiko jumped to her feet and took off for the hospital doors. Perhaps she'd gotten enough fresh air already after all.

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Author's Notes:

And now, since you've all been so patient, here's a little treat. The character profiles of all the characters I've created, with comments on their design. Hope you enjoy this.

Character Profiles

Mycinity:

Class: Heavy Blade

Real Name: Rumiko 'Rumi' Kunagi

Gender: Female

Age: 15

Residence: Tokyo

Description: An attractive young freshman in high school, Rumi, as her friends call her, is an extremely sweet and kind girl, known for always trying to help out others. Though quite athletic, she has never joined a club or tried out for a sport due to her constant feelings of inadequate ability and appearance. As she constantly feels that her own appearance is not good enough, she clamps onto those around her for support, especially the boys as she feels a need to be loved and accepted. This leads to her often becoming possessive, or smothering in her affections. Introduced to 'The World' by her older brother Kenji, Rumi finds the idea of a world where her appearance doesn't matter a dream come true.

Character Design: Our heroine, or at least the OC heroine. Mycinity was one of the three original characters that I created for this story, and the initial plan had her as the only OC who really interacted with the other characters like Kite. I had originally wanted the story to focus far more on Kite, but as I continued to plan out ideas and run scenarios in my head, I kept finding I needed more OCs and thus they would need more time to develop. Thus I came up with a more balanced amount of time between OCs and the .hack cast.

As the main female presence in the story, Mycinity was one of only two OCs that were not based off other characters/people in any real way. Her concept was basically to create a somewhat legitimate rival for BlackRose in the pursuit of Kite's affection, but more importantly, for it to be an affection on her side based more on the awe of Kite's abilities rather than who he was. It was this disparity, love for who you are against love for what you are that I wanted to play with some. As a direct result, Mycinity had to be rather clingy and possessive or else it'd take forever to get into the thick of it. As there were many avenues to this, I eventually chose to have her be the type who would smother someone in kindness and affection, because it worked to remind us that even kindness in too great an amount could be bad.

I decided to run her off the design that Mimiru/BlackRose use as a further idea that she was a rival for BR. I had even thought at one point in making them so similar that it was easy to get them confused, and so Kite might confess his love to BR and it was actually My, and the plot thickens. However, I felt it was better for her to be more her own person, not a BR clone, and the current My was born.

The last thing that was actually added to My was her name. I racked my brain for a good name for her, and this is the only place where I sort of dipped into other characters. Trying to think through female callsigns and nicknames and such, the name Trinity from the Matrix movies came to mind. However I didn't want people to think I was copying Trinity plus I'd have to explain the whole religious aspect of the name if it wasn't based off the Matrix name, and I try to keep religious comments out. The other character that came to mind was Mimiru, so I combined the two to create Mycinity. I especially liked it because it allowed a nickname, and one that sort of stated her goal for Kite. The 'c' was put in because the name needed a consonant between the 'y' and the 'i' and the soft 'c' made it flow nice.

Thus, after all that, you have Mycinity. Sure she has problems, but that makes her more human. I'm sure if I ever got convinced to do a sequel those problems could be worked out. Hey, anything's possible.

Barricade:

Class: Blademaster

Real Name: Kenji Kunagi

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Residence: Tokyo

Description: A fairly popular student in his Senior year of high school, Kenji plays shortstop on his high school baseball team. While dreaming of playing for his favorite team, the Tokyo Tigers, his struggling batting average seems to keep those dreams just that. He is however an excellent defensive player. Romantically, he has encountered numerous setbacks with the opposite sex, and the only girl he seems to understand is his sister Rumi. As a result he tries to keep a cool, distant relationship with all but his closest of friends. A newcomer to 'The World', Kenji was introduced to it by a friend from school who stopped playing shortly after. This led him to inviting Rumi to join him.

Character Design: As a character Barricade was originally designed for a much more limited role in the story, and thus was given some more stereotypically flat characteristics. This is a case where the name came before the character himself, and thus was based around the name. Thus I wanted him to seem quite solid and hard, the latter especially in the head. Most importantly he was supposed to be prideful yet quiet, your typical strong and silent type. But like most barricades once through the hard exterior things were different.

However, as the number of OCs increased from the original three I had thought up, it became apparent that more focus would be required on the OCs then I had planned initially. Thus he evolved into the character you now see. A final touch was to make him into someone who wanted to be heroic and protect those around him, again playing off the function of his name. However he just lacked the courage to do it. In the longer story originally envisioned, you would have seen him back down from jumping in and saving teammates during battles, thus making his sacrifice later something more profound and dynamic as a character. Sadly, due to my time constraints and such it fell to the cutting room floor.

Like Mycinity, he is the only other OC in this story that I did not base off some other character/person or combination of the two. Kind of fitting, since he and Mycinity were made into siblings at the last minute, when the comatose plan came to me. Once it did, his character seemed perfect for the role, and I couldn't see anyone else as the victim.

Elnon:

Class: Wavemaster

Real Name: Makoto Saranaga

Gender: Male

Age: 12

Residence: Satsuma

Description: The first-born son of an influential family, Makoto is a member of the Satsuma Clan, and carries the stereotypical pride well associated with that clan. Educated by private tutors, and privilege to many luxuries and training, Makoto holds himself in great esteem as a descendant of a samurai family. He has few friends, as he sees most others at his age as beneath him. As a result, especially due to the little time he sees his parents who are busy running the family company (zaibatsu) Makoto has begun to spend more and more time online, and has recently begun to play the online game, 'The World'. Here he has found great enjoyment collecting rare items, as it reminds him of his high status by possessing many limited commodities. His hero is the Satsuma samurai lord Saigou Takamori.

Character Design: As you may have guessed, Elnon was the third of the original three OC's I created for this story. Makes sense, they're the first three we met. Actually, he originally was to play a much bigger role than Barricade, but things changed.

Conceptually, I felt that the story needed a rare-item hunter like Mistral/Mirielle, so as the original Wavemaster that fit well. His class as Wavemaster also came in helpful with his personality, as he is one to prefer to stand back and let others get down and dirty. An early decision was to have Elnon be of noble samurai descent, but to lack almost any of the ethics that Bushido called for. As a result, he's a real Tengu. Ironically his initial description sort of fits that too.

For other characters I drew upon to create him, I drew upon the actions and attitudes of Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno from the Ranma ½ series. Kodachi in particular, as she liked to act above everyone else. Others include numerous characters of noble standing from movies and books, such as the stepmother from Ever After, and Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter, but without the bad guy role.

He was supposed to go through a far more drastic change through the story, begin to see just what it truly meant to be dedicated and courageous, and come to understand loyalty and honor from Kite. Sadly, with my cutbacks in the story, Elnon was pushed to the side and he became far more static and flat than I had hoped. Still, we can always hope that hanging out with people like Wakizashi can have an effect on him.

As to why he's a Wavemaster instead of a samurai, I'd like to say that it's because he really doesn't act like one, and that such a role didn't fit his character. But the truth of the matter is that I simply decided early on that I needed to have one of the three be a Wavemaster, and Elnon got tapped.

KenRyu:

Class: Twin Blades

Real Name: Nodoka Konno

Gender: Female (KR: "And don't you forget it boys! You may return to drooling!)

Age: 14 (KR: "You shouldn't ask a lady her age dummy!"

Residence: Shimizu

Description: Nodoka is best described as a raging ball of energy. Outgoing and flirtatious, she attends an all girl's junior high where her grades are less than spectacular. She is the queen of gossip, and even spent a short time writing a column for the school paper until her reported gossip caused too many angry readers. If asked she would say that she is an expert on money, not because she's into saving or good in handling it, but because she's very effective at spending it. Nodoka lives with her father in a small home, and often has to stay at home and cook dinner as her mother died when she was four. Due to this, Nodoka began spending time online, and that is how she came to play 'The World.'

Character Design: Of the extended characters, KenRyu was one of the last, despite her being one of the first mentioned. The idea of another Twin Blades had been questionable since Kite was already around and so at theverybeginning I had entertained thoughts of making her another Heavy Blade or Blademaster. But then I thought of her personality and finally decided that no other character type really fit my mental image of KenRyu except a Wavemaster, and by then we already had two others.

As a character the first thing I wanted with her was someone who couldn't keep her mouth shut, whether it be secrets, gossip, or just plain conversation. This was the main thing I held true with her as I wrote, and of all the characters, she was the most worked on during the actual writing of the story. I wanted to just stick her to the stereotypical gossip girl, but as I wrote the character, it occurred to me that for her to be like this she had to be energetic. By her second appearance I had actually changed my opinion slightly, and was now basing her off characters like Jubilee and Boom Boom of the Marvel X-Men fame.

She also began to become more feminine, and was almost like an alter ego of another female character that I created during my time writing for a Star Wars writing group. As a result she sort of became a, "I'm hot and sexy and I know it" kind of girl, willing to jump out and grab the guy she wanted, making her a great contrast to Mycinity who was insecure about her appearance, and fantasized about things but was afraid to act.

As for her fits of rage, they are totally taken off Love Hina's own Naru Narusegawa, by my favorite manga artist and author, Ken Akamatsu (::bows and worships::). There was a wee bit of Kitsune Konno from Love Hina as well (::bows and worships Akamatsu-sama::), and I thus paid homage to the foxy lady by giving KenRyu her last name.

Speaking of names, you may be wondering where KenRyu got hers. Obviously the first thought is Ken and Ryu from Street Fighter, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think of them at all, but that came after when I first put the name together. As I said, she was supposed to originally be a swordsman (woman) and one of the meanings for the Japanese word Ken is 'sword', as seen by such terms as kendo, or for that matter Kenshin (heart/soul of the sword). Then one meaning of ryu is as 'style' or 'technique', so I was putting them together to mean 'sword technique'. I don't know the kanji for this, and there are multiple meanings to the words as a result, but that's how I thought of it. I suppose I could say I got it from Kengyu, but that character doesn't really work with KenRyu. As for why I capitalized ryu, because that's what BlackRose did.

As a result of all of this, I have to say that of all the characters, KenRyu was the most fun to write, and I got quite a few laughs from her actions and remarks. Hopefully all of you did too.

Wakizashi:

Class: Samurai (Heavy Blade)

Real Name: Hajime Takamoto

Gender: Male

Age: 34

Residence:

Take Tokaido south

Kyoto is where I live

Splendor and beauty.

Description: A professor of literature and poetry at a local college, Hajime is an avid reader and writer of haiku (duh). He was recently invited to give a special lecture on the subject at the prestigious Tokyo University where he earned his degree. Married at age twenty to his college sweetheart, they divorced after twelve years of marriage and two kids, ages ten and six, who Hajime sees during the summers and holidays. His ex-wife claimed that his eyes tended to wander too much around other women. Having published a book on Japanese poetry of the 19th Century, Hajime is now in the process of writing his own book containing a collection of many of his haiku and other poems. He plays 'The World' in his free time, seeing it as a way to gain new experiences from the safety of his own home.

Character Design: Of all the characters, Wakizashi was the last one I created. This is mainly because he sprang out of a tendency I often have when reading a book or watching a movie, as well as from my love of poetry and an urge to place it in the story. His initial purpose thus was to allow me to place haikus into the story at will, but he also became what I call a 'responding character.' Basically what occurs is that as I read a story or watch a movie I get into the story, and as a scene plays out, instead of shouting at the screen or the pages saying, "No, don't do it" I create my own character that I place into the story to change the events of the story. It's sort of like just putting myself into the story in some cool way.

This was the starting point for the character, and he then evolved into a sage-like figure that filled multiple roles within the story. Basically he became the ideal role model for what other characters were supposed to be, or wanted to be. He filled the supposed role of SM Slayer by giving advice and not removing objectivity from it, he became an example of self control and thoughtfulness for KenRyu, an example of a samurai for Elnon, and so on.

Of all the characters, Wakizashi is probably the one who has the most of myself in him, although I was careful to put some distance between him and me. This is best shown in his ability to know when to be carefree and when to be serious. Overall he was meant to be a rather carefree soul who likes to get the most enjoyment out of life, and found contentment and joy in all aspects of life, not being weighed down by the seriousness of reality.

As for the suggested potential relationship between Wakizashi and KenRyu, it was just a little flirtatious concoction I came up with to add some side humor to the story. Obviously the two would never work out in the real world, as their ages point out. Of course, they don't know that, so if there was ever an online relationship, who knows, but I never planned one. It just sort of happened.

Other than the pieces of myself that make up Wakizashi, I took a fair amount from everyone's favorite rurouni, Kenshin Himura. The 'oro' scene in Chapter 15 should show that well. Other characters would include Keitaro Urashima and Motoko Aoyami of Love Hina fame (::bows and worships Akamatsu-sama::) as well as historical figures like Souji Okita of the Shinsengumi. Maybe a little Yukimora Sanada from the Samurai Deeper Kyo manga, but just a little. Note that all of those mentioned save Keitaro are samurai of some kind, and this is deliberate. I do see Wakizashi as a true samurai.

Finally his name. To anyone who knows their swords (as I do, I collect swords as a hobby) it is obvious, but otherwise it might not be. A wakizashi (meaning 'side thrust' for how it's thrust through the oba belt) is a short sword, the short of the daisho (meaning the long and the short). This refers to the Japanese samurai, who was allowed to wear two swords, the long katana and the shorter wakizshi (sometimes the tanto replaced it). Of the two, the wakizashi was the only one that was worn indoors, and a katana would be left at the door, or in the care of a servant outside. Thus it was an all times, all-purpose sword. There's actually more complexity to it than that, but that goes to explain the name choice, sort of honoring the samurai aspect of him, and his multiple roles.

StarMan Slayer:

Class: Long Arm

Real Name: Tadeoshi Arishima

Gender: Male

Age: 21

Residence: Tokyo

Description: A part-time legal assistant at a prestigious law firm in Tokyo, Tadeoshi grew up with a firm belief in the principles of right and wrong. His decision to go into law was thus not a hard choice. He is still in law school in his third year, using his job as a means to get a leg up on his fellow students. Despite working for a firm that handles high profile defense cases, Tadeoshi has not been disillusioned about his concepts of the black and white justice of the law. Divorced now after a two and a half-year marriage to his high school sweetheart, Nobiki Yukimora, he shares custody of their eighteen-month daughter Shizuru, who he sees on weekends.

The marriage fell apart six months before the divorce when Tadeoshi's sister Fujiko was gang-raped by a group of shady boys she had been hanging out with. Shortly after an argument with Tadeoshi over the matter when she refused to allow him to comfort her, Fujiko fell into deep depression and ran out of the house, and was then hit by an oncoming car when she tripped over the curb and fell into the street. Tadeoshi was devastated and guilt-ridden by the event, and without her testimony her assailants went free. Tadeoshi has never forgiven himself for what happened to his sister.

Character Design: The first additional character added, SM Slayer was created for several purposes. The first being that I wanted a character that was not exactly a newbie, but wasn't at Kite's level of play either. A transitional player I suppose. Also I wanted My to have a sort of big brother figure she could look up to before Kite came along, and thus was sort of replaced by Kite. This would of course cause conflict between Kite and SM Slayer, and conflict is what plot thrives on.

I suppose Balmung was a good example for me on how to make SM Slayer, mainly because I wanted someone who looked at things in black and white. If it's illegal, it's bad, there is no good illegal. While this itself was a good platform, I decided he needed an extra motivation in Mycinity's case without breaking the older brother younger sister relationship I had with them. Thus I was terribly mean to SM Slayer and decided he needed to have a major tragedy in his own life that would imitate the current scenerio. Thus he became a mentor gone bad by self-righteousness and ego. Silver Knight could probably fit the bill too, but I think I looked more at Balmung for this. There were probably other characters I used to base off him, but the main concept behind any of them was that SM Slayer could not accept that he might be wrong, that his cause was unjust or that his judgement might carry a flaw. This of course led to so many of his other character traits, some good and some not so good.

What I wanted to really make clear though was that he wasn't a hopeless case, no one in this story really was I suppose, but that despite all his assumptions and righteous jargon, he came off as someone people could relate to and see that he had good intentions. If I had to choose a theme for him, I suppose it would be the phrase, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

As you may have noticed, a lot of characters seem to fit their character class well for one reason or another. If you're wondering why I chose Long Arm for SM Slayer instead of a more righteous knightly class like Blademaster or Heavy Axeman, it's simply because I felt he was the versatile type. Of all the classes, Long Arm combines the most features among them for speed, power, reach, etc. Besides, I didn't have a Long Arm, and I don't think he would have looked good in Piros armor.

His relationship with Nightstar was the other major aspect of his character, and was a way to really round him out. It also gave a great way for me to explain his relationship with Mycinity, and to air his thoughts. I mention it here because really Nightstar is the other half of SM Slayer, and the two are at their best together.

Nightstar:

Class: Wavemaster

Real Name: Nobiki Yukimora Arishima

Gender: Female

Age: 20

Residence: Tokyo

Description: As her job as a librarian at a public library shows, Nobiki lives for books. Well-thought and cool tempered, Nobiki rarely acts without thinking. Like her job, she is quiet, and likes to listen to others talk about whatever. Finding peace and tranquility in her books, Nobiki never had any real desire to do anything other than read. Sadly her job is the most quiet time she has as she has to take care of her eighteen-month old daughter Shizuru now that she has divorced her high school sweetheart Tadeoshi Arishima. Often annoyed by her ex's actions and attitudes, which seem to be quite the opposite of her own beliefs, Nobiki still holds a soft place in her heart for her one-time love. If only he could pick up their daughter on time!

Character Design: Nightstar was created as a direct result of my creation of SM Slayer. To really play out his character to its fullest, the Nightstar character was required. Her main purpose had been to both act as a sounding board and voice of reason for SM Slayer, and to act as the group's information gathering source. Basically, she was the Wiseman of the OC group.

As a character she had to possess a lot of the characteristics that SM Slayer did not, both because it created tension and to balance him out. She was also to have an offline relationship with him straight out of initial creation. I actually based her character appearance off another character that a friend and I created for a fantasy novel that I am writing, and the name Nightstar actually comes straight from the last name I gave to that character. It's one of my several original fiction projects. Her character is actually based quite off that very friend, but I also had a little bit of BT in there as well. Some of you might think of Hermione Granger from Harry Potter too, but I didn't use her as a conscious example since in my opinion Hermione was not feminine or motherly enough to work for Nightstar.

As a result of all this, as I continued to write, I realized that she served another purpose. She was the only one that SM Slayer really talked to, and the only one who could ever get through his thick skull long enough to make him listen to reason. Unlike SM Slayer, Nightstar realizes that the lines between right and wrong quite often do blur. Other than Wakizashi, she is by far the only other OC I created who grasped the concept that everything, even good and evil, are open to perspective and interpretation.

Summing it all up, Nightstar is probably the mother of the group, trying her best to help out and care for those around her. How well she succeeds is open to each person's opinion.

Creeson:

Class: Heavy Axeman

Real Name: Justin Connover

Gender: Male

Age: 24

Residence: Hawaii, USA

Description: A graduate student and the University of Hawaii, Justin originally lived in northern Minnesota where he earned his undergraduate degree in Theater Arts. Basking in the warm waters of Hawaii after spending most of his life freezing through the bitter winters back home, Justin decided to get his graduate degree in Hawaii more out of an urge for sun and beaches, as well as the chance to learn to surf over any academic reasons. Hoping one day to become a big actor, Justin has had mild success, performing in several small production stage plays as well as a minor role in a cola commercial. Hoping to practice more with his Japanese, which he gained a minor in back at Minnesota, Justin began to log into the Japanese server to play 'The World' in Japanese.

Character Design: Sometimes, due to cutbacks and plot changes, characters that were set to have roles all but disappear. This is what happened to Creeson. I had originally planned to give him a small role, tagging along with Barricade on those adventures where Barricade would have backed down, leaving people like Creeson to step in for him. Sadly, when those scenes got cut, so too did most of Creeson's as well. Obviously I could have tried to work him in, but to be honest it would have required a fairly late introduction and rapid character development that wasn't worth the hassle. Besides, the roles required could be filled by the others just as well, sometimes even better.

Conceptually (I know, it seems weird hearing concept points on a character we really barely met) the main focus for Creeson was that bigger was better. Thus a Heavy Axeman fit him perfectly. Trying to think big, I suppose people like Shaquille O'Neal and Hulk Hogan come to mind, but just big will do. Really he was going to be a rather static, flat character, there for some humor when he didn't understand a word due to him being from outside Japan, but for the most part, words like troll or ogre comes to mind when I think about this character.

The main point for a character like this in thinking big is to re-emphasize how small Kite appears, and that size really doesn't matter, no matter what several of my female friends might say. Sadly, there wasn't much to him as a result of this, but at least he did get the chance to make a cameo in Chapter 10 with the fan club. Maybe next time.

Liet:

Class: Wavemaster/Hacker

Real Name: Unknown

Gender: Male

Age: He wouldn't tell me

Residence: Again he wouldn't reveal that to me

Description: Restricted. All files encrypted. For more information, contact Helba

Character Design: Ah, our resident bad guy. Well, not quite, but he was the closest thing to it. Like Wakizashi, Liet was the result of a 'responding character', but he was actually the responding character that arose not from this story, but from my playing of the .hack games. He is a special version of such a character though, sort of my all knowing, all powerful god characters. Well he is a hacker. Basically I get these when there are characters of immense power or skill within a story that I read or watch. You should see the responding character I got from watching DBZ. Anyway, the idea was that he was a hacker under Helba who worked behind the scenes.

From a design point, I usually thought of the character Sirius Black of Harry Potter fame, not so much in personality but in appearance. What it really was I suppose was the name, Black. As a result Liet is all in black. Severus Snape is another example used for this, and so the idea of immense magical power was brought forth and mixed with my initial responding character and with a dab of misguided intentions you gained Liet.

More than anything, I wanting him to remain a mystery to everyone, inside and outside the story. The thought of what he was doing, where he was, who he really was and why he was around was to play out through the story, and I wanted it in the back of everyone's minds. Every time you glance off to the side, he might be there watching from the shadows, or even right behind you.

His other major attribute was of course his devotion and dedication to what he believed in. This was to run quite close to SM Slayer, but unlike SM I wanted Liet to seem like he was less on a righteous crusade and more like a religious fanatic of some sort. He knew what the universe was, how it was supposed to be, what needed to happen to reach it, and was willing to take any lengths to reach it. Obstacles were not to be tolerated. It was this idea that was to put him at odds with Mycinity. Liet knew that Kite was the key to saving everything, and he thus needed to focus on that, not be sidetracked by some little girl and all her fantasies.

He tries to be kind of course, subtle and such, but the longer it goes on, the more desperate he gets. For Liet it was supposed to be an inching closer and closer towards that fine line, each time seeming like it was all right, then the next thing was necessary, until anything, no matter how ghastly, was all right if it was for the greater good that he saw.

I suppose Liet was not meant for the story's purpose to be allowed to save himself like SM Slayer was allowed, but I think that if he didn't face the consequences of his actions, and get some sort of retribution taken on him, the others couldn't truly get on with their lives and grow the way I wanted, so I guess he was the sacrifice. Well, in his own thinking, I'm sure it would have been justified.

References mentioned above:

Saigou Takamori: He was a samurai from the Satsuma area who fought for the Ishen Shishi during the Boshin Wars to restore the Emperor to power. His most famous act was his bloodless capture of Edo castle by coming to an agreement with the regent left in command of the castle, Kaishu Katsu. After the war he became a politician in the Meiji government until he was forced out. He then returned to his homeland where he was eventually brought into the Seinan Wars. He committed seppuku upon defeat. For further reference, The character of Katsumoto from The Last Samurai is the more idealized version of Takamori.

Tengu: It's basically a creature from Japanese mythology. It's a human-shaped wind master with a red face and a long nose. It can also mean however that one is full of themselves. It is the latter that I was referring to with Elnon.

Bushido: The code that all samurai abided by in every aspect of their lives. The seven principles are Gi, Rei, Yu, Meiyo, Jin, Makoto, and Chu. Translated these are Honesty and Loyalty, Polite Courtesy, Courage, Honor, Compassion, Complete Sincerity, and Duty and Loyalty. If you want to know more in depth information on this code, I suggest checking your local bookstore or library. You can probably find it online too, everything else is there.

Shimizu: It's a city in the Shizuoka prefecture. Pull out a map for greater reference. Note, this is the only city I reference because the rest are fairly well known.

Tokaido: The old travel route between Tokyo and Kyoto.

Souji Okita: A historical figure from the Boshin Wars who fought on the side of the Shogunate, Okita was the captain of the 1st Squad of the Shinsengumi. I am not certain, but I believe he was a member of the Mibu Clan, as many Shinsengumi were from there, giving them the nickname, "The wolves of Mibu). He was quite carefree and easygoing by nature, but a gifted and ruthless swordsmen. He took part in the raid against Choshu Clan members who planned to set Kyoto ablaze as a distraction to rescue the Emperor and kill top officials. He was killed in an anonymous battle.

Rurouni: basically a wanderer or vagabond. For more, see Rurouni Kenshin by Nobuhiro Watsuki.

Kengyu: This refers to the male lead in the Tanabata myth. Basically he's a human who fell for a goddess, Orihime, at first sight, the reverse came true (think Romeo and Juliet, but without the tragedy at the end) but a jealous goddess kept them apart. Finally after much turmoil, a deal was reached where they would get to meet every year on July 7th, Tanabata Day. You see reference to Tanabata Day (Cherry Blossom Festival) in the .hackLegend of the Twilight manga/anime.

Ken Akamatsu: (::bows and worships:: We are not worthy…) The artist and author of the manga titles: A.I. Love You, Love Hina, and most recently Negima! Magi Magister Negi. Quite popular in both Japan and the US, Love Hina has won best manga awards in both countries, and was one of the top selling graphic novels of 2001. Akamatsu-sama's (::bows and worships::) most recent work Negima!, which started serialization in Japan in summer of 2003, is sort of a cross between his previous series and Harry Potter. If you love romantic comedies, or just like a lot of good laughs, I highly recommend any of his three works, all of which are currently available in the US (Love Hina is the only one of the three to have all volumes currently released).

Eric Leitbur: This is me. One thing I always like to do, whether it be original story or no, is to make a guest appearance in any story I write. Note that the me that appears in this story is not how I act, I am not a salesman nor do I hang around hospitals in Japan trying to sell people books. I did it here though because I have no problem making fun of myself.

Thank you for your patronage, and if you would like to talk about this story further with me, or had additional questions, wondering about my next story, etc, you can contact me at and I will be more than happy to reply.