.hack/DELETION

A .hack fanfic by Timothy Meier

Story by Tim Meier and Matt Burrell

Character Designs by Katy Robles Edited by Matt Burrell

Written by Tim Meier

Disclaimer: I do not own .hack, or any of it's characters, however, I do own this fanfic, so please don't steal it from me, thank you

Chapter Two

.hack/ACTIVATION

"Can we rest a second? All this running is making me tired." Tiro said, wheezing. They had been running ever since they entered the dungeon. Actually, he wasn't doing too bad, considering he just started playing. Riu had let him take all the kills out on the field, but once they entered the dungeon, it was her who dominated in the "kills" department. Her experience truly made itself known here, as she took down nearly every monster in what seemed like a matter of seconds. Her blinding speed got to the point where Tiro could hardly keep up. She looked back at him, seemingly disappointed. "Well I knew that WaveMasters had less stamina then the other classes, but this is just pathetic." The new version of 'The World' had been upgraded to give an increased sense of realism. This included a stamina gauge, but a player would only be forced to walk if it ran out. Tiro looked like an asthmatic that just ran a marathon, he was breathing so hard

Maybe it's some expansion pack that he's beta testing or something, She thought, "Okay, we'll rest in that room." Riu said, pointing to an entryway on the east side of the hall.

"Thanks, Riu." He said, still wheezing slightly. They went through the entryway and wound up in a small room with numerous boxes laid out in neat rows. He sighed in relief and took a seat on the closest box, catching his breath. "Geez, I didn't know how much farther I would have been able to go." He said, laughing somewhat, "You're definitely way stronger than I am."

"Can I ask you something?" Riu asked, leaning on the crate next to him.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Where are you from?"

"Well, um…" He stammered, caught off guard by such a straightforward question. "I'm from San Diego. Why do you ask?"

She stretched out her arms, yawning, "Just curious. I want to get to know you. I mean, you are my WaveMaster after all. Chances are that I'll have you in my party a lot, and you know, I think it would be best if I really knew my teammates."

"I see." He paused for a second, "So, how about you?"

"Huh?" It was her turn to be caught off guard.

"Where you from?"

"Well, I live north of you. Up in Oregon." She stretched her arms again. "Hey, isn't CC Corp. headquarters in San Diego?"

"Yeah, I think so." He actually didn't know, but didn't want to appear ignorant in front of his new friend.

"Oh that's cool" She said, suddenly uninterested. "Are you feeling better yet?"

He smiled, "Yes, much better, thank you."

"No problem. This room seems pretty safe, so I suppose I could teach you about Knock Outs, and Deaths."

"Really? Cool." He said, suddenly full of energy.

"Wow, you sure perked up. You don't have them right now, but there are items called Revive and Resurrect. Revive will cure Knock Out, and Resurrect will cure Death. When your HP reaches 0, you'll get knocked out. If you cure someone when they're knocked out, they won't lose any SP. There's also a Knock Out HP gauge. This means that if a monster was to attack me while I'm knocked out, then I will die. When someone is dead, you use a Resurrect. However, when you revive someone from death, their SP will be at 0. So basically, it would be better to revive them while their still alive. Still with me?"

He nodded hesitantly, "It seems complicated when you explain it, but I think I got the idea."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" She said, her voice brimming with anger.

He almost fell off the box, "No no no, that's not what I meant!"

"Then exactly what did you mean?"

"Well, uh, you seem to be giving explanations that aren't exactly in layman's terms, but they are still understandable, I just need to pay more attention."

"Good answer, you need to be careful what you say to the more experienced players."

"Yes maam. Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize now." She said, standing up, "Anyways, we should head for the Gott statue. If I remember correctly, the Steel Blades should be here. Not too powerful, but at least they're better than these Amateur Blades." She stretched her arms again, "Okay, lets go."

They were one room away from the Gott Statue, when they found one last Portal. Riu looked over at Tiro, grinning. "Hey, we have one more portal to go, you want to take this one?"

He bared his teeth mischievously, "Yeah, that would be awesome. I'm thirsty for blood!"

Oh geez, I've created a monster, she thought. "Alright, I'll be your backup. If you need any help, don't be afraid to ask."

"Okay, but I got this one." He slowly crept towards the portal, wondering what monster it would turn into. The thought had no sooner crossed his mind, when the portal vanished and was replaced with a rather large and fierce looking monster. But something was different about this monster. It was surrounded by transparent green hexagons, like some kind of digital wall. He looked at it, baffled. "Uh Riu, I think I'll need a bit of help on this one."

"Thought you'd never ask." She said, unsheathing her blades. Riu charged at the monster, leaping up in the air to perform what was most likely to be another graceful kill. But to her dismay, the hexagons effortlessly parried the blow. "What…?" She checked it's HP, which read: 'LKIT:RSYU.' "What the hell is this, a glitch?"

"Look out Riu! I don't think this is a normal monster!" Though it was just a game, Tiro was terrified.

"I can see that Tiro! Just let me handle it!" She struck again, but to no avail. "Dammit, none of my attacks are working!" She leapt at the creature a third time. However, this time the monster counterattacked, sending her flying across the room. She slammed headfirst against the brick wall with a sickening 'thud'.

Tiro was horrified as he rushed to her side, propping her up. "Riu, are you okay?" A thin stream of blood ran down her forehead; she, or at least her character, was out cold. As the monster approached, he knew he wouldn't be able to take it on his own. He checked his items, but he didn't have any revives or resurrects. Tiro squeezed his eyes shut and pulled Riu close as the Volkswagen-sized monster brought its massive fist down…

…and nothing happened. He looked up. His staff! His staff was floating in mid-air, blocking the monster's attack. How is this possible? The staff slammed into the monster, throwing it back into the opposite wall. Tiro sat there in amazement, hardly noticing his right arm being pulled up in front of him. He looked up at his arm. What's going on? The staff was suspended directly in front of him, the hilt facing his arm. His body spasmed in pain as the staff pierced his hand, driving itself up the inside of his arm. Am I supposed to feel this? Why does it hurt? his mind screamed. His hand gripped the staff, now fully lodged in his arm. He groaned in agony as it pulled him up into the air as hot blood streamed down his arm. At the end of the staff, a transparent blue cylinder with four dagger-like rods protruding from the far end of it materialized from thin air. Tears ran down Tiro's face as a white-hot burning sensation ran from his toes, up his body, and into his right arm, as four beams of blue-green light shot out of the four rods towards the monster. They hit the creature, still slumped over in the small crater it made when it impacted the wall, with a deafening screech and vaporizing it with a blinding white light. The staff few out of his arm and fell to the ground with Tiro. The burning, the pain, all the sensations were gone, and his blood soaked arm was clean and free of damage. He was once again numb to The World. What the hell just happened? Did…Did I just kill that thing? He checked the stats of his staff. It was now labeled, 'Sunday's Staff'. Who was Sunday? Why did he have her staff, and why did it cause him so much very real pain? Wasn't this just a game?

((Aqua Capitol, Mac Anu))

Riu woke up in a narrow back alley of Mac Anu. Tiro was standing over her, a nervous smile on his face. "About time you woke up."

She rubbed her forehead, "Tiro? What happened?"

"You were KO'd, and I had to finish off that monster for you."

"YOU WHAT?" She nearly screamed, shocked.

"Like I said, I defeated that monster. Oh, and I went ahead and got these for you." He held out two small swords to her.

"The steel blades? Uh…" She smiled at him. They were a side weapon, and she would rather use the weapon that she could level up, but the fact that he got them for her... "Thanks Tiro." She said, hugging him. He could smell her perfume, a light, flowery scent.

"Oh, well geez, uh, no problem." He stammered, blushing.

Riu rubbed her forehead, "I gotta go. I have the worst headache right now."

I bet you do he thought. "Alright, well I guess ill see you later."

"Bye Tiro." She said, winking before she disappeared into the crowd on the main street.

Tiro stood alone in the alley, dumbfounded, as the smell of flowers lingered in the air.