Disclaimer: I don't own .Hack so no sueing me or death threat reviews.
Chapter 4: Acquiring the Bracelet
That night, Jon and his friends returned to the bottom level of the dungeon in Delta, Chosen, Forgotten, Holy Ground. Jon showed his friends the hole he had made in the wall. It had shrunk a bit, but it was still noticeable. Jon led everyone through and had them meat the strange girl from before. She had been in the same chair as before and approached Jon again.
"So, you have returned," she said in the same eerily calming voice.
"Yes, and I have brought some of my friends to see you," Jon said.
"Why are you all here? By that, I mean, why are you all here after the things you have experienced?"
"I'm here to prevent anyone else from being put into a coma."
"The thrill of the game," Jasmine said.
"Are you not afraid of what Skieth, that horned demon, can do", the girl calmly asks.
"Of course were afraid," David said coming forward.
"No one wants to be put into comas so we're here to stop it," Kelly next to David.
"We'll stop it any way possible," Lan brandishing her axe.
"I see there is no way to convince you all to turn back or to forget about this," The girl showing defeat in her eyes, "Though I can't stop you, I will help you."
"How can you help us," Jasmine surprised at the remark.
"I can you give you the power that Kite has, the power to combat Skieth and the virus that plagues this world."
"You're the one who gave Kite the bracelet, aren't you," Jon remembering Kite's story.
"I gave the power to a player named Orca."
"Orca," Jon seeming surprised," Orca must have been the one who was with Kite, and put into a coma by Skieth."
"Why did you give the power to Orca anyway," Lan asked.
"He was the only one I thought could defeat Skieth, but I see I was wrong," said the mysterious girl.
"I see," Kelly realized, "What is your name anyway; I'd rather know who I'm receiving a gift from."
"My name is Aura."
"Well Aura," Jasmine pushing through everybody else, "are you going to give us this power or not."
"Very well," Aura put her arms in front of her and something started to appear. The object materialized in to a book with a strange marking on the cover. She held it out and gave it to Jon," Open this book and you shall receive the power of the twilight."
"But there is only one book, and there are five of us here," Jon staring at the weird book, "How can all of us use one book?"
The book instantly spilt into five. Aura then disappeared before questions could be asked. Jon handed out a copy to everyone else and led them out of the room. Each of them thought how a book could contain the power that they had seen Skieth and Kite use.
"Should we open these books now or later," David asked with apprehension holding the book in front of him.
"I say we open these now, but not all at once," Jon said, "Just in case we pass out from getting the bracelet like Kite did when he used it on that golem."
"Your right, at least one of us should make sure the others are ok after we open these books," Kelly said.
"I nominate myself to stand guard and check on everyone else," Lan said eagerly.
"We should go to a secure field that no one will be at so we don't have any uninvited guests," Jasmine pointed out, "and I know just the place."
She led them to Delta, Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground which wasn't much except a church and a walkway leading to the church. Nothing was there, which is what they wanted. Jon, Kelly, Jasmine, and David pulled out their books and stared at them. Jon and Jasmine were the first to open the books. A white light, emitted from the books, blinding everyone who looked at it. The books flew out of their hands and flew straight into them. Their bodies seemed to absorb the books and both seemed ready to fall over, but then regained composure.
"Are you two ok," David asked.
"What a rush," Jon exclaimed, "That was something incredible. The light was blinding then I felt like my body lost all feeling, and then felt like I was infused with life."
"Your bodies seemed to turn into data like something out of the matrix," Kelly said, "and then strange markings appeared on your clothes, markings like on the books."
"It was one of the strangest feelings in my life," Jasmine exclaimed, "It was exactly like said it was, but stranger."
The others opened their books and the same thing happened with them. Worrying if the books did anything at all, both David and Lan searched their wrists to notice that a ring of light appeared as they touched them. The books had worked their magic, and now, Jon and his friends had the power which they were looking for. Now all that was left was to look for Balmung and Helba. Everybody logged off to do some searching for either person but turned up nothing, until they checked their mail. Helba had written them, with some tips on how to use the bracelet. Had Helba watched them as they received the books or as they opened them, obtaining the bracelet? Lan suggested that everyone split up, searching different servers. Lan, Kelly, and Jasmine, searched the Delta server while Jon and David searched Theta server. Few clues were found about Helba and there seemed no trace of Balmung for weeks. One day, David logged off for a while and when he checked his mail, there was a letter from someone that he had spoken with earlier in the day. The letter mentioned that Balmung was spotted in Lambda server. As David tried to go to the server, he was denied entry. He decided to mail everybody about how the server was off- limits. Everybody met at Theta root town of Dun Lorieag to talk.
"That's strange that you weren't let in Lambda server, because I was there weeks ago before we started our searching," Jon surprised by the news, "Maybe the system administrators have found out about the virus and are trying to contain it."
"What good will that do," Jasmine asked, "Since this an on-line game, a virus could attack all the servers even if access is restricted."
"Who knows why it's restricted but we need to get there to find out about Helba," Lan pointed out.
"Maybe Kite knows something about this," David suggested, "I'll call him and see if he can help."
"No need," a voice was behind them. It was the mysterious boy Kite, and some others with him. A female heavy blade and wavemaster, "These are my friends BlackRose," motioning to the heavy blade, "and Mistral. They've been helping me get around in 'The World'. So why were you guys going to call me?"
"Something's wrong with the servers, I met you in Lambda server weeks ago," Jon said, "but for some reason, we can't access it anymore."
"That's the very reason, I came to see you."
"Jeez, Kite, you call me because you said that these people could help us out but they're good for nothing," BlackRose screamed into Kite's ear.
"Hey, back off bitch," Jasmine yelled out," You can't do anything just like we can't."
"Come on," Kelly said, "calm down you two. It won't solve anything to fight over it."
"Actually, I came here to see if you had a certain item I could use," Kite hiding something.
"You want items," David sounded surprised, "What item do we have that could help you."
"Something called virus cores."
"What do these items do?"
"They can let me hack into the server or into protected areas."
"Another power of your bracelet," Jon said to himself then turning to Kite, "How is that possible?"
"The bracelet uses the cores to unlock the areas that are protected."
"Well since you need them, I did find some a while back and I was wondering what the hell, these things did. Hey do any of you guys have any of these virus cores he's talking about."
Kelly and Jasmine had a few and Jon only had two. He handed them to Kite, and everybody returned to the chaos gate. Kite took out some of the virus cores and attached them to his bracelet. The bracelet stretched out as if Kite were about to drain a monster then suddenly he disappeared through the chaos gate. He returned a minute later looking a bit drained himself.
"The server should be open again for everyone to use," he sounded exhausted, "how did you get those virus cores anyway. I only got them through using Data Drain on data bug monsters"
"Hey, yeah only Kite been only to get them from monster because of his bracelet," Mistral piped in.
Jon and his friends knew they caught and know had to show Kite their secret. Each of them showed the ring of light on their wrists symbolizing they each had a bracelet.
BlackRose pushed through Kite, "How the hell did each of you get a bracelet like Kite?"
"We got it from Aura," Lan attempting to calm BlackRose, "She asked if we wished for this power and we accepted."
"So she is ok," Kite sounding relieved at the news.
"Yeah, I found her in a secret room about two months ago just before we met in Carmina Gadelica," Jon said.
"Is she still there?"
"I doubt it," Jasmine glaring at BlackRose, "after she gave us the bracelets, she vanished without a trace."
"Yeah, haven't seen her since," Kelly said.
"Can you tell us where saw Aura," BlackRose asked.
"It wouldn't help you," Jon told her, "I checked that for that hole again after we got the bracelets, but it was gone, and I searched for it again for about an hour."
"Kite, have you heard of a player named Balmung," Kelly asked him, "we've been looking for him for about two months."
"I ran into him about a month ago," Kite said," He was in the Delta server."
"That doesn't help us at all," David seeming frustrated, "I got the latest info on Balmung just recently."
"Why are you looking for that bastard anyway," BlackRose seeming more pissed off than before.
"Rumor has it he has info on Helba which we need," Jon said, "Helba seems to know everything about the bracelets and that we have them.
"Wonder what so great about you guys that she has to have a constant tab on you," BlackRose said.
"Yeah, we want know why too," Kelly said, "Thanks you Kite for opening the server for us."
"Don't worry about it," Kite recovering a bit from the gate hacking, "I should thank you guys for the virus cores."
Kite and his company took off. Jon and his friends went to the Lambda server in search of the elusive Balmung, and also the mysterious Helba. As they reached Carmina Gadelica it was strangely silent for such a popular server. It was either no one had noticed the server was open again or that going to Lambda was a trap set by someone. From where Jon was he could see that the shops were still open because he could see the lights coming out from them, but no one was in them. He turned around and noticed the grunty pen was empty.
"This is a little too strange, even for this game," Jon reaching for his sword, "This server is supposed busy all the time."
"Maybe we're the first to get here and people are just finding out," Kelly pointed out.
"Or maybe we meant to come here but for the wrong reasons," Jasmine had a bad feeling standing by the chaos gate.
"So, you managed to break through the protection set up," a loud voice was above everyone and when they looked up, they saw a man clad in blue armor, and had angel wings.
Jon stood motionless for a second and the only thing he could utter was," Balmung of the Azure Sky." Chapter 4 End A/N: Ahh, next chapter is where my group squares off with Balmung. Please read and review this chapter becasue I won't post without knowing that people read this fanfic. LATES.
That night, Jon and his friends returned to the bottom level of the dungeon in Delta, Chosen, Forgotten, Holy Ground. Jon showed his friends the hole he had made in the wall. It had shrunk a bit, but it was still noticeable. Jon led everyone through and had them meat the strange girl from before. She had been in the same chair as before and approached Jon again.
"So, you have returned," she said in the same eerily calming voice.
"Yes, and I have brought some of my friends to see you," Jon said.
"Why are you all here? By that, I mean, why are you all here after the things you have experienced?"
"I'm here to prevent anyone else from being put into a coma."
"The thrill of the game," Jasmine said.
"Are you not afraid of what Skieth, that horned demon, can do", the girl calmly asks.
"Of course were afraid," David said coming forward.
"No one wants to be put into comas so we're here to stop it," Kelly next to David.
"We'll stop it any way possible," Lan brandishing her axe.
"I see there is no way to convince you all to turn back or to forget about this," The girl showing defeat in her eyes, "Though I can't stop you, I will help you."
"How can you help us," Jasmine surprised at the remark.
"I can you give you the power that Kite has, the power to combat Skieth and the virus that plagues this world."
"You're the one who gave Kite the bracelet, aren't you," Jon remembering Kite's story.
"I gave the power to a player named Orca."
"Orca," Jon seeming surprised," Orca must have been the one who was with Kite, and put into a coma by Skieth."
"Why did you give the power to Orca anyway," Lan asked.
"He was the only one I thought could defeat Skieth, but I see I was wrong," said the mysterious girl.
"I see," Kelly realized, "What is your name anyway; I'd rather know who I'm receiving a gift from."
"My name is Aura."
"Well Aura," Jasmine pushing through everybody else, "are you going to give us this power or not."
"Very well," Aura put her arms in front of her and something started to appear. The object materialized in to a book with a strange marking on the cover. She held it out and gave it to Jon," Open this book and you shall receive the power of the twilight."
"But there is only one book, and there are five of us here," Jon staring at the weird book, "How can all of us use one book?"
The book instantly spilt into five. Aura then disappeared before questions could be asked. Jon handed out a copy to everyone else and led them out of the room. Each of them thought how a book could contain the power that they had seen Skieth and Kite use.
"Should we open these books now or later," David asked with apprehension holding the book in front of him.
"I say we open these now, but not all at once," Jon said, "Just in case we pass out from getting the bracelet like Kite did when he used it on that golem."
"Your right, at least one of us should make sure the others are ok after we open these books," Kelly said.
"I nominate myself to stand guard and check on everyone else," Lan said eagerly.
"We should go to a secure field that no one will be at so we don't have any uninvited guests," Jasmine pointed out, "and I know just the place."
She led them to Delta, Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground which wasn't much except a church and a walkway leading to the church. Nothing was there, which is what they wanted. Jon, Kelly, Jasmine, and David pulled out their books and stared at them. Jon and Jasmine were the first to open the books. A white light, emitted from the books, blinding everyone who looked at it. The books flew out of their hands and flew straight into them. Their bodies seemed to absorb the books and both seemed ready to fall over, but then regained composure.
"Are you two ok," David asked.
"What a rush," Jon exclaimed, "That was something incredible. The light was blinding then I felt like my body lost all feeling, and then felt like I was infused with life."
"Your bodies seemed to turn into data like something out of the matrix," Kelly said, "and then strange markings appeared on your clothes, markings like on the books."
"It was one of the strangest feelings in my life," Jasmine exclaimed, "It was exactly like said it was, but stranger."
The others opened their books and the same thing happened with them. Worrying if the books did anything at all, both David and Lan searched their wrists to notice that a ring of light appeared as they touched them. The books had worked their magic, and now, Jon and his friends had the power which they were looking for. Now all that was left was to look for Balmung and Helba. Everybody logged off to do some searching for either person but turned up nothing, until they checked their mail. Helba had written them, with some tips on how to use the bracelet. Had Helba watched them as they received the books or as they opened them, obtaining the bracelet? Lan suggested that everyone split up, searching different servers. Lan, Kelly, and Jasmine, searched the Delta server while Jon and David searched Theta server. Few clues were found about Helba and there seemed no trace of Balmung for weeks. One day, David logged off for a while and when he checked his mail, there was a letter from someone that he had spoken with earlier in the day. The letter mentioned that Balmung was spotted in Lambda server. As David tried to go to the server, he was denied entry. He decided to mail everybody about how the server was off- limits. Everybody met at Theta root town of Dun Lorieag to talk.
"That's strange that you weren't let in Lambda server, because I was there weeks ago before we started our searching," Jon surprised by the news, "Maybe the system administrators have found out about the virus and are trying to contain it."
"What good will that do," Jasmine asked, "Since this an on-line game, a virus could attack all the servers even if access is restricted."
"Who knows why it's restricted but we need to get there to find out about Helba," Lan pointed out.
"Maybe Kite knows something about this," David suggested, "I'll call him and see if he can help."
"No need," a voice was behind them. It was the mysterious boy Kite, and some others with him. A female heavy blade and wavemaster, "These are my friends BlackRose," motioning to the heavy blade, "and Mistral. They've been helping me get around in 'The World'. So why were you guys going to call me?"
"Something's wrong with the servers, I met you in Lambda server weeks ago," Jon said, "but for some reason, we can't access it anymore."
"That's the very reason, I came to see you."
"Jeez, Kite, you call me because you said that these people could help us out but they're good for nothing," BlackRose screamed into Kite's ear.
"Hey, back off bitch," Jasmine yelled out," You can't do anything just like we can't."
"Come on," Kelly said, "calm down you two. It won't solve anything to fight over it."
"Actually, I came here to see if you had a certain item I could use," Kite hiding something.
"You want items," David sounded surprised, "What item do we have that could help you."
"Something called virus cores."
"What do these items do?"
"They can let me hack into the server or into protected areas."
"Another power of your bracelet," Jon said to himself then turning to Kite, "How is that possible?"
"The bracelet uses the cores to unlock the areas that are protected."
"Well since you need them, I did find some a while back and I was wondering what the hell, these things did. Hey do any of you guys have any of these virus cores he's talking about."
Kelly and Jasmine had a few and Jon only had two. He handed them to Kite, and everybody returned to the chaos gate. Kite took out some of the virus cores and attached them to his bracelet. The bracelet stretched out as if Kite were about to drain a monster then suddenly he disappeared through the chaos gate. He returned a minute later looking a bit drained himself.
"The server should be open again for everyone to use," he sounded exhausted, "how did you get those virus cores anyway. I only got them through using Data Drain on data bug monsters"
"Hey, yeah only Kite been only to get them from monster because of his bracelet," Mistral piped in.
Jon and his friends knew they caught and know had to show Kite their secret. Each of them showed the ring of light on their wrists symbolizing they each had a bracelet.
BlackRose pushed through Kite, "How the hell did each of you get a bracelet like Kite?"
"We got it from Aura," Lan attempting to calm BlackRose, "She asked if we wished for this power and we accepted."
"So she is ok," Kite sounding relieved at the news.
"Yeah, I found her in a secret room about two months ago just before we met in Carmina Gadelica," Jon said.
"Is she still there?"
"I doubt it," Jasmine glaring at BlackRose, "after she gave us the bracelets, she vanished without a trace."
"Yeah, haven't seen her since," Kelly said.
"Can you tell us where saw Aura," BlackRose asked.
"It wouldn't help you," Jon told her, "I checked that for that hole again after we got the bracelets, but it was gone, and I searched for it again for about an hour."
"Kite, have you heard of a player named Balmung," Kelly asked him, "we've been looking for him for about two months."
"I ran into him about a month ago," Kite said," He was in the Delta server."
"That doesn't help us at all," David seeming frustrated, "I got the latest info on Balmung just recently."
"Why are you looking for that bastard anyway," BlackRose seeming more pissed off than before.
"Rumor has it he has info on Helba which we need," Jon said, "Helba seems to know everything about the bracelets and that we have them.
"Wonder what so great about you guys that she has to have a constant tab on you," BlackRose said.
"Yeah, we want know why too," Kelly said, "Thanks you Kite for opening the server for us."
"Don't worry about it," Kite recovering a bit from the gate hacking, "I should thank you guys for the virus cores."
Kite and his company took off. Jon and his friends went to the Lambda server in search of the elusive Balmung, and also the mysterious Helba. As they reached Carmina Gadelica it was strangely silent for such a popular server. It was either no one had noticed the server was open again or that going to Lambda was a trap set by someone. From where Jon was he could see that the shops were still open because he could see the lights coming out from them, but no one was in them. He turned around and noticed the grunty pen was empty.
"This is a little too strange, even for this game," Jon reaching for his sword, "This server is supposed busy all the time."
"Maybe we're the first to get here and people are just finding out," Kelly pointed out.
"Or maybe we meant to come here but for the wrong reasons," Jasmine had a bad feeling standing by the chaos gate.
"So, you managed to break through the protection set up," a loud voice was above everyone and when they looked up, they saw a man clad in blue armor, and had angel wings.
Jon stood motionless for a second and the only thing he could utter was," Balmung of the Azure Sky." Chapter 4 End A/N: Ahh, next chapter is where my group squares off with Balmung. Please read and review this chapter becasue I won't post without knowing that people read this fanfic. LATES.
