Chris: Yay! I feel like updating this fic! Okay, reader responses and then we can get straight to the story! Yep. And we get the cool Gaia Gardens scene! Which they took out of the anime. They shouldn't have done that. That was funny! I don't own FE or .hackLegend of the Twilight.
Yami no Kirbie: Yep. Sain and Rebecca are siblings. It suits them. And Eliwood is Balmung...Yeah, and I'm not going to make him so comedy-ish...Sain is there for that. And Farina is great for Mireille. And I heard that the next volume is coming out in August...Which is so far away....But I'll be playing Tales of Symphonia while I wait.
LowenxRebecca luver: Yes, I could have used siblings...But let's see...Ninian is Aura, so using them wouldn't have worked. Dart does not fit the personality of Shugo, who's a pervert. And there really aren't any other siblings in the game. So Sain was the likely choice for Shugo, and as for Rena....I just chose Rebecca because her personality is close.
Kiyoko-chan: Yeah...But I changed the color of Balmung's armor...But you're right. Red and gray do not mix. And thanks for pointing out the Shugo thing...Totally missed that.
Alice Kaiba: Thanks for the review. And the red-haired guy is Eliwood.
italics - Sain's note and announcement in the story and the ending e-mail
" "- dialogue
' ' - thoughts
- location
bold - Character class
underline - note usually some comment or action that appears to explain stuff
Dark, Shadowy Room "Ninian?" A gruff voice echoed this word in the Pherae Corporation's Online Administration Room.
"Yes sir. I've confirmed that there was a Category One contact between Ninian and a user." Eliwood faced the other people inside the room. They began voicing their opinions.
"This is unexpected."
"Most disturbing."
"Most irregular."
"Ninian's re-emergence is an ill omen. Do you not agree...System Administrator Eliwood?" They turned to face Eliwood again. He stayed silent and began checking a small computer screen.
"We have run diagnostics on all of Elibe's servers. There is no trace of malfunction or virus." Eliwood's fingers sped across the keyboard as he read the different reports from all of the servers.
"SILENCE! Have you forgotten what happened four years ago?! The Emblem Incident?" One of the businessmen yelled at Eliwood. "There damage. We cannot expose Elibe or its users to such an unstable element again!"
"Fine then. Why don't you guys just look for yourselves? It would be easier to understand the ramifications from within Elibe if you just logged in." Eliwood voiced a suggestion but immediately knew that they would not take it.
"We are not children anymore, Eliwood. We do not have time for games."
"We are businessmen. Pure and simple."
Eliwood sighed and smiled. 'Which means you're only interested in the user's money.' He turned around to leave. "I'm afraid other matters call to me at the moment. It is midnight and something requires my presence."
"Eliwood! We are not finished yet! Get back here!"
Eliwood turned back to face them. He bowed a little, hiding a smile on his face. "I'm sorry, but there are other duties I must attend to."
"Other duties, Eliwood?"
"I am a system administrator, you know. Without me to moderate things, your precious users will lose interest in the game. So, if you don't mind, I'll be on my way. We're having a special event today. Our users are waiting." He walked off with a backward wave and stepped in a portal.
"....Very well."
"Don't worry. I'll keep my eyes open." He winked, pressed a button, and disappeared.
Farina's Secret Hideout
Farina, Sain, and Rebecca sat cross-legged on the floor of Farina's hideout. It looked more like a warehouse. Various items were strewn across the room. All of the rare, or at Farina says so.
"So those are the ultra-special, super-rare dot heroes characters, huh?" When Sain nodded, Farina folded her arms and nodded sagely. "I thought so. I could tell right away. I can smell rare things from miles off. I could always spot rare stuff, yep! I heard they were going to be given away. So you guys won them? You must feel pretty lucky, huh?"
"Heh heh, yep." Rebecca blushed and smiled. Farina then started to rave about how she wanted them.
"I tried to get them too. I guess I didn't win. I sure was pretty close. Maybe they'll do it again and I'll gain something cooler." She continued to rave hysterically, extremely disappointed that she didn't receive such a rare prize. While she was talking, Sain was looking around. He saw this weird figurine that had big ears and a goofy smile.
'What the heck is that...?' He slowly backed away from it. He turned to look at his bracelet and held it to his face. "We're supposed to look like the dot heroes, right? Then how come all of these weird things are happening to me? Who was that Ninian girl and why'd she give me this bracelet? And more importantly, why haven't any girls offered to take me on dates?!" He started sobbing.
"There, there brother. Maybe that Ninian girl was going to ask you on a date." Rebecca moved to Sain's side and began comforting him.
'That's right! I forgot all about Ninian's kiss!' Sain immediately stopped crying and began imagining the time when they would go out together.
"Hmm...I don't know why Ninian gave you that bracelet. Maybe it was a user-specific event." Farina looked thoughtful.
"User-specific event?" Rebecca looked at Farina. Her eyes lit with a new fire and she pointed at Sain and Rebecca.
"Yeah! Maybe these limited-edition characters come with some scenarios related to the original dotheroes! Your vision might be a clue in solving Elibe's final mystery! And think of all the money and treasure there is going to be!" The fire in her eyes died out shortly after that, though. "Or you could have been hit with a virus or something. I don't know. It's all speculation, after all."
Rebecca thought about it, her hand on her chin. "But then, if what you say is true...Sain's bracelet could be the key to unlocking that mystery!"
Sain shook his head. "Now I'm confused. What mystery?"
Farina just shrugged." Well, I knew what is was, it wouldn't be a mystery, would it? Y'know? I doubt anyone knows it. Maybe not even Elibe's creators."
Rebecca gasped. I bet these characters are part of a whole global event in the game!"
Farina nodded. "Probably so. Maybe the legend of the dot heroes can finally come to an end."
'Hmm...I bet that if I can just get the hang of this hero business, babes will flock to my side! I'll have more dates than I know what to do with!' Sain sat thinking and drool was slowly coming out of his mouth.
'What wonderful insider information! If I stick with them, money, rare items, and mucho experience points are sure to follow!' Farina gripped her stave harder and a dark gleam was coming from her eyes. "Muahahaha..."
Rebecca noticed this and slowly edged away from them. 'With team members like these, who needs enemies? They're so shallow....' She shuddered.
"You have mail." A toneless voice spoke and a small envelope appeared over Farina's head. Everyone turned to Farina.
"Why is there a letter floating over your head?" Sain asked her.
"Oh, that? It just means that I have flash mail." Farina pulled it down from over her head an opened it. "Oh, this is interesting. It's from my friend, Lyn."
"Whoa....You have friends?" Sain asked in surprise.
"Of course! Rare item hunters have to be very connected." Rebecca replied. "Information is crucial."
"No way..." Farina deleted the e-mail and stood up. She turned to them frantically. "Come on! There's no time to waste! We need to head to the Central Plaza immediately!" Within seconds, she was already out of the door and speeding to the plaza.
"Central Plaza? How come?" Sain said as she just started to leave. She sped right out of the door. "Holy cow, she's fast."
"I don't know what that was all about, but we'd better follow her." Rebecca replied. They both ran to the plaza, where Farina was waiting for them.
"Gasp....We made it..." Sain wheezed as he leaned on his knees for support.
"Farina...Can you tell us...why we're here?" Rebecca asked between pants of breath. She pointed up at a screen in the middle of the plaza.
"Look over there! They're announcing a side quest! We made it just in time!" Sain, Farina, and Rebecca gathered together to see what was going to be posted. Sain continuously kept getting jostled.
"Dude...What's with the crowd?" He said as people kept pushing him.
"Whatever they're about to announce must be pretty important..." Rebecca said. She was very uncomfortable, considering tons of people were around her.
"Here it comes..." Out of all of them, Farina was probably the only one who was not uncomfortable. Probably because she was too obsessed with treasure.
201X / X / X 0:15 Subject: Valentine's Day Sender: Eliwood
To: All
Come one and all to the abundant garden of Ostia in celebration of the
Day of Love! The first 100 players to solve my challenge will receive
an ultra-rare artifact, guaranteed to enhance one's love life. This
special side quest lasts today only!
And remember, a beet is neat, but a gourd is adored.
Lord Eliwood
System Administrator
The moment Farina finished reading the message, her eyes changed into little dollar signs and made little ka-ching sounds in her mind. Rebecca and Sain had just finished reading the message as well.
"Ah, so it's a single-day event." Rebecca noted.
"Argh! Again with the geek jargon! Can't you just explain it in English?!" Sain shouted.
Rebecca slapped her hand to her face. She sighed, put her hand down, and faced Sain. "Come on...Isn't it obvious enough? It lasts for a single day. When the day is over, the event is done. Anyone can join, though. And the prizes are usually very rare."
Farina spun around to face them, the little dollar signs still in her eyes. "Well then?! What are you waiting for?!" She sped off towards the Dragon's Gate to head for the Ostia Garden.
"Geez..." Sain looked at her rapidly shrinking shadow and sighed.
"There she goes again..." Rebecca sighed as well. "We might as well follow her. You never know when a rare item might come in handy." With that, they slowly followed Farina to the Dragon's Gate. On the way, Sain voiced his opinion.
"She does realize that we're the heroes in this story, right? It's too bad her personality is so strong...She's really cute, otherwise...I wouldn't mind making whoopee with her!" He said. Rebecca whacked him on the head for that improper comment and dragged him off.
Ostia Gardens
Rebecca, Farina, and Sain appeared in the Ostia Gardens. Immediately, Farina began to look around for the treasure.
"Show me the treasure!" She screamed as she raced around. Rebecca was a little calmer.
"Hm...So what's the quest? This just looks like an ordinary garden." Farina didn't share her opinion about this being an ordinary garden, however.
"Where's the rare item?! Gimme, gimme, gimme!" She raced around, searching for a treasure box.
Rebecca put her hands to her ears, trying to block out the sound. "Geez...The only rare things when she's around is peace and quiet." Sain continued to look around. He spotted a leafy stalk growing from the ground.
"Hm? A radish?" He stepped closer to it. 'I wonder...What if it screams at me if I try to pull it out? Could it be some sort of monster?' He grasped the stalk of the radish and got ready to pull. "Well, here goes." He pulled hard and a giant heart-shaped radish flew out with him and landed at his feet. "Whoa!" Rebecca and Farina rushed over to see what Sain had.
"What's that? A heart-shaped veggie?" Rebecca asked.
Farina snapped her fingers. "I've got it! Sain, don't move!" She pulled out her staff and angled it at the radish. "Hiyahhh!" She stabbed downwards toward the radish, and Sain.
"Gah! No!" Sain said in fear, trying to escape. Farina stabbed the radish in half, thankfully missing Sain. He shuddered in horror as Farina screamed in triumph. A treasure box had appeared where the radish had been.
"Now I get it! This is a treasure-hunting minigame!" She clasped her hands with joy and began jumping around. While she was doing that, Sain was sobbing in fear and terror and Rebecca was trying to comfort him.
"Sc-Scary....So scary, Sis..." Sain said between sobs. "I thought she was going to kill me!"
"There, there. Everything's okay. Will big bro feel better if sissy-wis gets him a rare item, too?" Rebecca continued to try to calm Sain down. Meanwhile, Farina had rushed up to the treasure box.
"Dibs on the rare item! Tee hee!" Farina squealed as she open the box. Inside was a piece of paper. She looked at it quizzically. "What's this? Just a piece of paper?" She picked it up and read it. Her eyes widened in shock because the note said, "Sorry, try again!"
Near Farina, Rebecca had found her own treasure box. When she opened it, she heard a strange ticking noise. It got louder and Rebecca realized that the treasure box contained dynamite! She realized this too late because the box exploded a couple of seconds after she had opened it. They all flew into the air and landed on the ground with a thump. Rebecca let out a small groan.
"Do rare items explode?"
"That was a trap, you moron!" Farina yelled at her in frustration as she spotted another 'Try again.' letter fall down. "Who planned this stupid event anyway?!" She swung her staff around in anger.
Rebecca picked herself up and brushed all of the dirt off. "I think I saw his name on the announcement. Eliwood, wasn't it? I remember hearing about him. He used to be a regular player. Now he's an administrator. He loves holding these weird events."
"He must be weird himself..." Farina said without much thought.
"I'll bet he looks like this!" Rebecca had drawn a figure of what she thought Eliwood looked in real life. It showed him as a fat, sweaty nerd who was always panting and wore thick glasses. Farina applauded her artwork.
"Right, right!" She continued to clap with a smile on her face. "Not like I've actually seen him." She mumbled. Sain edged away from them.
'They're scaring me....I feel for you, Eliwood.' Sain tried to slowly hide from the two girls as they looked at Rebecca's ugly drawing of Eliwood. They added some more insults about how he looked in real like. Like the fact that he was bald and stuff. Somewhere else, Eliwood sneezed.
Finally, they finished with the picture of Eliwood and grabbed Sain by his wrists. They dragged him off to other parts of the garden.
"Come on, Sain! Get up!" Rebecca shouted, her spirit restored.
"Let's go find the booty, booty, booty!" Farina yelled, still dragging Sain along.
'I want to go home...' Sain just let himself be dragged along, and sighed.
A couple of hours later, they all lay on a mound of cut radishes, tired and frustrated. There were empty treasure boxes everywhere and Farina was running out of patience. "We've checked all of them! And nothing! At this rate, we won't even make the top 100...It's not fair!!!"
Rebecca was checking another item box that had the same message on it. "Try Again." She threw it away and sat down. "What are we doing wrong? Maybe we're in the wrong area?"
"N-No...I don't think so. Let me see...I've got the announcement right here..." She brought up the screen that contained the announcement. She scanned it carefully. "Hamm...Garden of Ostia...Right place...Hm? What's this mean?" She spotted something at the end of the announcement. They read it carefully. As for Sain, he was leaning against a radish, groaning with hunger.
"Remember...A beet is neat, but a gourd is adored." Farina pondered this and wondered what it meant. Rebecca came up with the answer.
"A gourd? Like a pumpkin?" She mused, thinking about it. Sain's head shot up when he heard the word, pumpkin, and he immediately began thinking about pumpkin pie. Rebecca and Farina raced in the same direction. Sain decided to follow them.
"Hey! What's going on?!" He said as he ran with them.
"Quickly! Find a pumpkin!" Farina shouted behind her. "We need a pumpkin! I'm sure of it!"
"A pumpkin?" Sain asked. However, his questions wasn't answered...probably because it was rhetorical. Anyway, his keen eyes spotted a pumpkin in front of them and he ran towards it. "There!"
Farina reached it first and lifted it to the sky. "I am the Pumpkin Queen! Rare item for me!" The pumpkin glowed white, however, and when Sain and Rebecca reached it, it exploded and smoke covered them.
"Hey Farina! Where are you?" Sain shouted. The smoke cleared quickly, though, and they could clearly see where everyone was. Of course, they could spot the Paladin a lot better.
"M-My precious pumpkin!" Farina wailed.
"The pumpkin! It turned into a Paladin!" Rebecca shouted as they turned to face this new foe. The words, Battle Mode, flashed across their eyes.
"All right! That means we just have to defeat this monster! This will be a piece of cake!" Farina said as she readied her staff. "Easy as pumpkin pie! One spell should do it!" Sain stopped her, though.
"Not so fast! This looks like the job for a hero. And word on the street is that ol'Roland here's got heroism in spades!" Sain pulled his arm back, getting ready to unleash the power of his bracelet.
'Oh, Sain, not again.' Rebecca thought as she watched her brother get ready to attack.
'This could get interesting. I'd like to see the bracelet in action.' Farina watched as Sain got ready to attack. "Go for it, Mr. Hero! I've got your back!"
"Take...this!" Sain swung the bracelet at the Paladin with all his might. It let out a small poof and a tiny cloud of air flew from it. Nothing else happened. They all exclaimed in surprise and astonishment.
"Huh?! What went wrong?! What did I do wrong?" Sain yelled.
"What?! That's it?!" Farina jumped up in surprise. She was expecting a lot more than a soft poof.
"Oh Sain...How embarrassing..." Rebecca sighed and stared at the ground.
"What went wrong? My bracelet is supposed to weaken the monster, right?" Sain was extremely confused because this had never happened before. The Paladin just looked nervous at the fact that he felt really out of place. Farina stepped up and shoved Sain aside.
"That's it. I'll do it! Maj Lei!" Farina cast her spell but nothing happened to the Paladin. "Er...Hey! Where's my spell?!"
Sain groaned and collapsed to the ground. "Ugh...I don't feel so good....I think I've been cursed..." He struggled to stand. 'No way! Is this another effect of the bracelet?!" He turned around to where his sister was. "Rebecca...I'm sorry...I let you dow--"
Rebecca was not where Sain thought she was. She was in the arms of the Paladin, holding him. "Hello, handsome. Just take me!"
"Rebecca!" Sain screamed in horror at the sight of his sister holding the Paladin.
"It's useless. She's totally charmed." Farina looked at Rebecca with an expression of nonchalance. Sain didn't take it that way.
"Yo, paladin!" He whipped out the twin blades at his sides. "Get your mitts off my sis!" He charged at the Paladin. "Hi-ya!" He brought his blades above his head and with one swift stroke, killed the paladin and breaking the spell that was over Rebecca. He looked at the dead body of the Paladin. "I...I...I did it! All right! I did it!"
"Good work, Sain! You don't totally suck, after all!" Farina cheered. Rebecca stood up, a dazed look in her eyes. The Paladin dissolved into dust and where it had lain, a treasure chest appeared. Farina ran past everyone and reached the chest.
"Yay! Rare item! I called dibs!" She began to hug the treasure chest and squeeze it. Sain turned away from her and looked at his blades.
'Tch...Why didn't I think of that before? I'm a fighter, right? A Twin Blade. Of course I should start off with some weapons.' His gaze shifted to the bracelet. 'Still, what happened with the bracelet? I've got a feeling that it's the bracelet's fault that started everything going." He turned back to Farina.
Rebecca now kneeled next to her, curious to find out what the treasure is. "I wonder what the treasure is? Something to make Valentine's Day more romantic..."
"It's so rare I can already taste it!" Farina squealed in reply. She opened in the chest, and lo and behold, if was filled with clothes.
"Clothes?!?"
"What the? Is that it?!"
Rebecca lifted some of the clothes that were at top and looked in deeper. "No way!" She pulled out the various items of clothing that were inside the chest. "Sailor Fuku?! A Maid's Outfit?! Cat Ears?! Knee-High Socks? Dude, these are so lame!"
Sain looked at the Sailor Fuku [1] and let out a small gurgling noise. Rebecca looked at the various clothes with disgust plain on her features. Farina was holding the clothes and laughing insanely. "I'll take them all if you don't want any!"
"You're not actually planning to wear these, are you?" Rebecca shouted at Farina.
"Of course not! But a rare item's a rare item!" She replied happily.
'Yeah...Who would want to wear this stuff?' He looked at the clothes and imagined what Rebecca would look like in the Sailor Fuku and what Farina looked like in the Maid's Outfit and Cat Ears. What he saw gave him a nosebleed and he collapsed.
"Sain?" Rebecca looked at her brother. "Oh well. Geez! What kind of administrator is Eliwood? Don't they screen administrators?! He stinks!"
Sain was chuckling from the ground. 'I know how you feel, Eliwood. Heh heh.'
"So you're saying that I can have them, right?" Farina asked Sain.
"Oh yeah. Sure. You can have them. No problem." He said as he got up.
"Thank you so much, Sainypums! You were amazing! I shall always treasure these as your Valentine's gift to me!" She kissed him lightly and walked off.
"Heh heh...Yeah. No problem." Sain was blushing as he stared at Farina. Rebecca was to his right, angry at her brother. When Farina was some distance away, she chuckled.
"Muahahah....Men...So easy to manipulate." She then walked off with her treasure.
"Stupid Sain! How could you ignore your sister on Valentine's Day! A girl has feelings too, you know!" Rebecca was yelling at Sain and shook her hand at him.
"But...Rebecca...Er..." Sain was at a loss for words.
Quest Results
Sain has gained a level.
Rebecca has gained a level.
Items obtained: Sailor Fuku, Maid's Uniform, Cat Ears
Team Levels
Sain - Level 2 Twin Blade
Rebecca - Level 2 Heavy Blade
Farina - Level 32 Wavemaster
Meanwhile, Eliwood was reading a magazine. "Were my prizes really that horrible? Those fashions were really popular in all of the magazines I've read." He was kind of missing the point.
Erk,
How are the preparations coming along for the Cherry Blossom Festival
event? Do we have those new items yet? If those programmers are giving
you trouble, let me know--I have my methods of persuading them.
During my last event I was able to confirm the identities of those who
were playing as the dot heroes. I'm almost certain Ninian has
contacted one of them. We must continue to monitor them closely. We don't
want another...incident.
Eliwood
Pherae Corp.
Network Administrator
Chris: Finally. I'm done. Anyway, I'll try to update as soon as I can since Summer Vacation has come at last. Please Read and Review and tell me if I need to change anything. Yeah...This was long....
[1] - Sailor Fuku is like a Japanese schoolgirl's outfit. That's basically it.