Information: What if anime was a giant online game? That you are another player in a world that only looks and feels real. Things are not what they appear to be. People you know could be your deadliest enemies, and strangers could be your best friends.
CyberWorld.Net
Created by Kyle Evanick,
Inspired by Lord Archive's Digimon Cyber and With the Will forums' SeiferA's .hackWtW
Chapter 1: Beginning of a Journey
A young man of 20 sat in a dark room on a computer muttering to himself, cursing. "Trying to customize my character AND my navi is hard, not to mention long and frustrating." The user shrugged.
He moved the mouse to make the Altimat desktop appear. Next to the computer were several papers, game guides, a card reader, a VR (virtual reality) visor, and finally something that was shaped like a Gameboy Advance. He clicked on an icon titled 'CyberWorld' and typed in 'Kyle' as his username and typed in '' as his password. He clicked 'OK' and put the visor on.
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Kyle was falling in a long tunnel that reminded him of .HackSign during the opening song and one of the last episodes of the series. He shook his knowing it wasn't real no matter how it felt. After stopping, Kyle noticed he had four options available to him: Login, Email, and BBS and Quit. He then noticed that both BBS and Email were flashing. Almost lazily, he clicked on Email. He knew it was from the CyberWorld Costumer Service. It read:
Dear User,
Thanks you for choosing to play 'CyberWorld.Net' the world's first automated and multiparty game involving several companies such as Nintendo, Konami, Bandai, Capcom, Sony, Microsoft, and various others. If you find any glitches or bugs, please notify our programmers by posting a screenshot in the Bugs section of the BBS (Bulletin Board System). To get started click on the Login icon. When you arrive in the game, please obey the rules especially the Player Killing rule. Press the right side of you D-3 to activate your navi. He/she will help you settle into the game and learn the basics of it. We hope you enjoy playing our game.
Kyle closed that window and clicked on the BBS icon. A series of windows popped up. Kyle clicked on the search engine to see if he could find any posters he knew. Sure enough, he found a couple.
Author: Cassius335
Subject: Keywords, Friends and Where are you Kyle?
Hey, Kyle. If you're reading this I found some interesting places to level up and get some decent stuff. Plus, I want you to meet my navi. I'll be online for a couple of hours at Delta Server, on the town Mac Anu. You know from that .Hack game you told me about? I'll hopefully see you later.
Alan Wilkinson.
Evil Green Ranger
Location: Seabrook, Hythe (or thereabouts)
Kyle clicked out of that window and clicked on Login. As before, Kyle was falling in a deep tunnel. As this was happening, Kyle's clothes, hair, and body began to change shape. His hair stayed the same as a buzz cut colored brown. His green t-shirt and black shorts changed into green vest and pants, green gloves, purple boots, a red lightning bolt on the vest's front and back. On his waist were his weapons. Since his character was a Twin Blade, he'd chosen Spark Blades as his weapon. Though he could've lowered his navi's level to increase his own, he decided to have his level at three, while his navi at two to give them near equal footing.
As he slowed down his decent, he could see a grass field before him. It was almost devoid of anything except grass except for a pond nearby (which he recognized as a Spring of Myst from the .Hack games and anime), some flowers, and a town some distance away.
"Amazing..." Kyle exclaimed. "Hard to believe this is all in a VR game. Well better get to work."
Suddenly, a small device colored purple with gray-grips on its right side appeared in Kyle's hand. It had a rectangle screen, three buttons, and a white antenna. "Nice."Kyle looked over it carefully. "Must be my D-3. Just like I wanted it."
He pressed the center button on it, causing a bright red light to appear as it shot out of the device. Blinded by it, he shut his eyes. When he could open them again, he saw a green frog with a red fin looking up at him. "Hello, Kyle." The frog said in a female voice that sounded like June Motomiya from the English Dub of Digimon 02.
"Nice to meet you too, Betamon." The Twin Blade replied.
The aquatic Rookie jumped on Kyle's should as she spoke. "Server configuration is normal at this time. About 253 users are currently online in this section of Delta Server. The current time is 4:33 pm, Eastern Standard Time."
A puzzled look came from Kyle's face. "What the heck was that?"
Betamon shifted nervously. "Sorry, every time you login I have to display that information. It's part of my responsibilities as a navi."
Kyle shrugged. "Now that's out of the way, can you tell me quickest way to Mac Anu and what towns are in this section?"
"Sure. The towns are in this section are Seaside Hill, Station Square, Pallet Town, Mac Anu the Aqua Capital: known also as Son of Goddess, Oldale Town, Taris, Haven City, Sunnydale, Silverhills, and finally Yoshi's Island."
Kyle nodded. "Ok, what's the quickest way to Mac Anu?"
"First we must make a quick detour to Station Square which will take us not too far from Mac Anu. However, we should be careful. I'm only at Level 2 and you're at Level 3, so we don't know what enemies could be lying in wait for us."
Kyle nodded. "Makes perfect sense. Lead us to Station Square."
After walking for a while, the pair heard a scream right by the entrance of Station Square. The player being attacked was about 5'3, had a purple jumpsuit, was wielding a Gakaku: a Level 3 Blademaster weapon, had brown leather boots, no gloves, and long brown hair in a ponytail. There were two creatures with her. One was a small gray-colored rabbit who was firing electric bursts at the ones attacking them. The other was humanlike, was her partner's height, wearing pink robotic armor, pink boots, reddish pink gloves, blonde hair, green eyes, and a heart symbol in the middle of her chest.
"Damn. Not those monsters." Kyle cursed after looking at them. Two of them looked like a Doberman except larger covered in fire. The third monster was larger, about eight or nine feet tall. It looked like a mushroom with razor- sharp teeth and eyes on the top. It had long arms ended three fingered claws and two short feet.
"You recognize them? According to my information, the dog monsters are called Hell Dobermans and the mushroom is called Mushroom King. All three monsters are at level 6. Suggestions?"
"Yeah use your Water Tower attack on the Dobermans, while I deal with the animated veggie. Now, go!" The Rookie jumped into the air sending an Electric Shock to distract the two Hell Dobermans while Kyle started to slash the Mushroom King repeatedly.
Kyle stood over the fallen Blademaster, pulling her up. "You ok, kid?"
The short user groaned. "I think so... Thanks for your help." The girl thought for a second. "You are a newbie, too right?"
"Yeah. My name's Kyle, Kyle Evanick. What were you thinking trying to fight three Level 6 monsters?" Kyle responded as he dodged a strike from Mushroom King.
"The name's Amanda. Amanda Terrance. I thought if the great Balmung of the Azure Sky could fight guys like this, so could I. I want to be just like my idols Balmung, and Jennifer Scotts." She said the second name in hushed voice as she swung her sword across the monster's belly.
"Scotts? You don't mean the Pink Time Force Ranger, do you? How old are you anyway?" He asked.
"Uhh... 21."
Despite himself, Kyle smirked. He normally was not what most would call a people person, generally sticking to himself mostly. "Don't let it get you down. I'm 20, and STILL like Power Rangers. My personal idol is Eric Myers, the Quantum Ranger."
Amanda grinned. "Glad to see I'm not the only one."As she said this, Mushroom King hit both Kyle and Amanda staggering them back several feet. The pair struggled to get up. "I've had ENOUGH of this! Kyle I'll take the left side, you take the right! On my signal we'll jump him with the best Attack Skills we have."
Nodding, Kyle's Spark Blades began to glow a deep red color while Amanda's Gakaku had a similar glow except white. "Flame Dance!"
Kyle began to spin like a top with his blades bursting full of flame before the monster. Amanda had a similar fashion as her sword started to hack and slash the mushroom monster to bits as it was colored gray and data bits disappeared.
While the two players were dealing with Mushroom King Betamon, Roll, and Gazimon started to beat up the two Hell Dobermans. As this happened, one of the Dobermans ran off while the three navis kill off the remaining monster. As this happened two golden treasure chests appeared by them.
"Kyle sighed as he moved over to the left chest. "Glad that's over. Amanda you take whatever is in other chest, ok?" Kyle opened it and received Fossil Bracer, Wyrm Hide and Steel Cap. Amanda gained Fire Spear, Hunter's Hood, and Unicorn Blade. Kyle read the information that appeared in his D- 3. "I went to Level 4 and Betamon's now at Level 3."
The girl stood nervously towards Kyle and Betamon. She looked towards the reading of her own device. "I went to Level 2, Roll and Gazimon went to Level 3. I owe you guys, a big one. You not only saved me, but also let me have some decent gear. So I..." She stopped suddenly. Roll stepped forward in front of Kyle.
"What our partner means is that she'd like to exchange Member Addresses with you. If that's ok, that is."
Kyle nodded. "Sure. Betamon knows what to do."
The frog blushed slightly as she and Roll closed their eyes. "Kyle's member address has been added to your member list." Said Roll, while Betamon said, "Amanda's member address has been added to your member list." Kyle began to turn towards Station Square.
The Blademaster nervously approached him. "Um. If you don't mind me asking, where are you two going?"
Betamon spoke. "We're heading towards Station Square to hitch a ride to Mac Anu. Kyle and I are meeting a friend of his."
"If you don't mind, can me and my navis come too?" Asked Amanda.
Kyle thought about this for a second and nodded. "Sure, why not?"
As the two players and three navis walked through the skyscraper-filled city. After walking for about 10 minutes, they arrived at the train station in the Square. Kyle turned to Amanda. "How much does the train cost anyway? I don't have much money on hand yet."
Gazimon decided to answer for Amanda. "The first time you use Station Square's trains it costs nothing. All the times after that you have to pay. Fortunately, it's very cheap even for a novice player. Station Square is one of the few towns in this Server that can take you to ANY of the five sections of the Server. Not to mention the other towns in this section. To access a different Server and different worlds, you need the experience for the intermediate and difficult places to access from the Chaos Gate of course".
Kyle nodded as he and Amanda got on board the train. After a minute or two, the pair got off a slight distance to where Mac Anu was.
Amanda quiet for much of the trip, decided to speak up. "So where is this friend you're looking for?"
Kyle shrugged. "Who knows? Alan or Cassius as he's known here, could be easy to find though. All we need is a pissed off blonde Australian, a Psychic Pikachu, and Izzy Izumi..."
Amanda sweat dropped as he said this. "Ok... Let's check the Magic Shop. He could be buying Scrolls or Materia, or something useful like that."
Kyle nodded. "At least, it is a plan. Lets go."
As the group made their way to the shop, they heard a loud commotion coming from the Magic Shop in the town.
Gazimon was the first to cover her wits. "What the heck is going on here?"
Roll shrugged. "Don't know. Let's go check it out!" The navi took off in a run, leaving the others in a hurry.
The female rabbit shook her head. "Roll REALLY needs to curb her fighting tendencies, at least a smidge."
Betamon nodded. "Nothing you can do about it, now. Might as well follow her. "
As the group ran after Roll, they noticed a rather large crowd around two people: one player, one navi. One was 6 foot, had a green and white suit with a red cape (which Kyle recognised as Gohan's Great Saiyaman outfit from Dragon Ball Z, except without the headgear); his hair was also colored scarlet red.
The 'navi' looked like a human girl of about 14 years old. She had short brown hair tied in a green band, yellow shirt, loose blue jeans, a yellow puppet on one of her arms, and white and light green shoes. She looked just like Jeri Katou from Digimon Tamers, because technically she was her (a navi version of her anyway). Amanda stood in shock at her, while Kyle shook his head slightly as if he knew who her partner and user was.
Most were just watching the scene between the (currently) scarlet-haired user and one other person. the latter was dressed in a male Team Magma suit from Pokémon Advanced, with a red cloak with ears coming out of the head of the cloak, as well as crimson-colored gloves and boots. He had black hair sticking out of his suit, and had Black Gatomon by his feet (a small bipedal cat-like digimon with grayish black fur) "What do think you're doing having a navi of some weak character from Tamers? And what's with that outfit? You look like some Power Rangers retard."
"Dragonball Z." Alan corrected. "Get your TV show's straight, moron."
Before the Magma themed user or the Black Gatomon could respond to that Kyle tapped the person on the shoulder. "Is there a problem here?" Kyle asked in pretended sincerity.
"Of course, there's a fucking problem! This retard should have the respect for the only decent season of Digimon, 02. And picking the girl who got her partner killed is nothing short of stupid!" The man responded to hotly.
Kyle nodded slowly and turned to one of the passersby, a blue-haired teenage girl wearing a dark-blue Jedi cloak with a Lightsaber at her belt, and a pink blob with stubby arms and legs and mouth. "How did this happen?"
The girl answered. "We all saw this guy verbally then physically attack this guy and his navi. We'd deal with him, but we're afraid of his level, he might kill us."
The girls all nodded while Kyle glared at the Magma user. "You have a problem, with me kid?" he asked.
"You bet I have a problem, on several accounts." Kyle snapped at him. "First of all, I don't tolerate bullies. Second, I can't stand bigots. Finally, I don't like it when someone beats on my friends."
"This retard is your friend? What a loser. I've about had it with this crap. Black Gatomon, delete that worthless navi. Should be simple for you, you already at Level 12. And I'm at 11." Black Gatomon leapt into Jeri's path, attempting to slice her chest open. Jeri tensed, about to jump.
Before the attack came however, it was blocked by a silver mirror that parried the Champion digimons attack and sent her sailing. The silver mirror was connected to: a tall green and silver digimon polished in steel called Mercuremon. A young man with long white hair, green eyes, and a Silver Guardians outfit from Power Rangers Time Force (without the beret or cap) appeared by Mercuremon.
But Black Gatomon was already looking up to see Jeri, who had jumped high above Mercuremon's head. The cat digimon bounced nimbly off the ground and leapt high, intent on resuming her kill.
"NIGHTMARE SYNDROME!" Jeri called, her eyes flashing. Before Black Gatomon's eyes her opponent suddenly became a CyberGarurumon, a Mega level version of WereGarurumon with half it's body replaced by cybernetic parts (in a similar manner to MetalGreymon). The cat digimon screeched in terror and started backpedalling in mid air, trying to get away from what she now percieved as a much stronger foe. Jeri landed on a very surprised Mercuremon and bounced off, doing a forward somersault in mid-air before stretching out and striking Black Gatomon with a textbook perfect flying kick, sending the more experinced Navi sprawling.
"And that, ladies and gents, is why she's not wearing the green dress." Alan commented to general laughter. Even the newcomer smiled. Jeri blushed, but giggled at the joke.
The Magma user, however, was less amused. "It's not real!" he exclaimed, having apparently guessed what was going on. "Get your head together!"
But Black Gatomon didn't seem to hear him, because she just stood there shaking.
"Time to wrap this up." the Silver Guardian lookalike decided. "Mercu..." He stopped when he felt Alan's hand on his shoulder.
"She's okay." the Englishman told him then turned to his Navi. "Jeri, Roar!". The newcomer nodded in approval.
Jeri held out her puppet out and made it roar with her ventriloquism. The effect was incredibly cute, but the result was dramatic. As, from her perspective, Black Gatomon saw and heard the CyberGarurumon emit it's most viscious, blood curdling howl, the feline drew back hissing, urinating in sheer terror.
"Get ahold of yourself." the Magma user growled, obviously disgusted. The next thing anyone knew, Black Gatomon turned into data and fled into the Magma's D-3. Jeri had won.
"What was that you were saying about 'weak Tamers characters'?" Alan asked smugly.
"You fucking retard!" the Magma growled. "I'm going to pound you into paste."
"Try it." Alan replied with a grin. From where he was standing, Kyle saw a certain intensity hiding behind his freinds bemused look; obviously the real Cassius was itching to come out and play.
But then the Mercuremon's partner stepped forward. "It's not him you need to be concerned with."
The Magma look alike scowled. "And the hell are you? I'm the strongest player in this town! No mere player can beat me, so who are you?"
The white-haired boy smirked. "First of all, you don't know what true strength means. Second, I'm the administrator in charge of Mac Anu. It's my job to see that things are peaceful here. For what you have done, I should revoke 3 months of your privileges, however seeing as you've already had your behind handed to you once, I'm feeling merciful today. So go. Now."
After glaring back at the group, the Magma user said to Alan.. "I'll go now. But rest assured, I'll get you for this. Remember my name: Marcus."
As the beaten user headed for the golden-ringed Chaos Gate, Kyle shook his head.. "Some day, huh Alan? Honestly, I can't take you anywhere."
Alan chuckled slightly. "Green personality's are trouble magnets, remember? Thanks for sticking up for me against that guy."
"No problem." Kyle grinned.
Alan. turned to the admin. "And thank you for putting that guy in his place."
The white-haired admin smiled. "You did your fair share of that yourself. You can call me Omni Fistolantus. Omni for short. I must say, that is an interesting navi. Most people who pick Digimon as navis use a Rookie or Human Hybrid or even a low level Champion."
"Let's just say I decided to experiment." Alan replied. "But functionally, she IS a Rookie."
Amanda suddenly found her voice as she spoke. "If you don't mind me asking, what is an admin doing here? I mean Mac Anu is pretty peaceful, from I know of in the .hack games and anime."
Mercuremon replied. "It usually is peaceful, but every so often we have troublemakers around. It's the admin on the various towns and their agents who enforce and keep the peace."
"And the Silver Guardians look?" Kyle asked.
Omni shrugged. "Once I had a look, I just went for it. Anyway, it's nice to meet you all. Perhaps we will meet again." Both Omni and Mercuremon began to walk towards the Chaos Gate and disappeared through it.
Alan looked at Kyle. "So who's the cute girl?" he asked, teasing.
At this Amanda, Gazimon, and Roll blushed slightly. Kyle groaned as he said. "The Blademaster is Amanda and these are her navis Roll and Gazimon. This is Betamon, my partner. So... What's with the Jeri look alike?"
Alan shrugged. "I just thought I'd try something different for once. She's basically Jeri from the show, only a few years older and with the abilities of a Tapirmon."
Kyle nodded. "Well, shouldn't the rest of us get going? Wherever it is you said we were going to."
"First we should save our game, before we do anything." Amanda told them as they went to the Save Center with a NPC (non-player character). They quickly saved and headed to the golden ringed Chaos Gate.
"Jeri, why don't you do the honors?" Alan asked.
Jeri nodded. "Sure thing, Alan." She held forth her puppet.
"Ruff. Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, here we go!" it said.
"She's good." Amanda commented.
"She's cheating." Alan retorted knowingly as golden rings surrounded the players and navis and they faded out and disappeared.
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As the three players (and four navis) appeared, Kyle was the first to recognize the area in which they came in. It appeared to be an abandoned church or cathedral in the middle of large waterbed.
"Whoa..." was the reply of both Kyle and Amanda; Alan didn't know why they were surprised and shocked. Kyle turned to him. "Hey, Alan? Who told you about this field?"
He shrugged. "Some guy dressed up like a samurai. I think he was called a Heavy Blade. Why are you guys surprised?"
It was Amanda who answered. "Well this is a VERY important area in the .hack universe. In the first game, this is where Skeith, Innis, and Magus are referred in the game as well as Balmung being introduced here. Not to mention that this is where crucial parts of .HackSign took place.
"Sounds interesting. Well lets go in. Even if we don't find any enemies, we'll probably find some equipment to use." Alan responded.
Absentmindedly, Alan removed a kanata from his back swinging lightly. Kyle chuckled lightly while Amanda stood there in shock . "More experimenting?" asked Kyle dryly.
Alan nodded. "Kyle told me about the different .Hack classes, but none of them seemed like quite what I was looking for." he explained to Amanda. "I basically modified a Twin Blade template, sacrificing the second blade for some Wave abilities." he turned to Kyle. "You should know from Duel Monsters how magic can make or break a battle".
Kyle nodded. "So what are you calling yourself?" he asked.
"I've classed myself as a 'Wave Blade'."
"Sounds simple enough."
"Remember the KISS rule."
Kyle groaned. "Please. The last thing I need is you and kissing in the same subject."
"Especially when Ann's involved?"
"Now you're dreaming."
Amanda frowned as the two chuckled. Jeri noticed and leaned over to her. "If it helps, I don't know what they're talking about either." she confided.
"Apparently some girl." Amanda said. "I'm starting to feel like a third wheel."
Jeri shrugged. "Well, they do have lives outside the game."
"I'm not so sure about that." Kyle said. "I think Alan would live on the Net 24/7 if he could."
"No lie." Alan said. "Amanda, I'm sorry if we're making you feel unwelcome. But Kyle and I have known each other for a while now. But we could always use another friend."
"Yeah, you're always welcome around us." Kyle said.
As the group walked towards the cathedral, a pair of eyes watched for afar, listening to their conversation. The figure was cloaked in darkness and had no visible characteristics. "Well, well, well. New players enter the scene. I wonder... If they could be useful to my plans? ...Perhaps, I should keep an eye on them."
While this was happening, the trio of players and their navis looked around for anything of interest: items, enemies, etc. A golden ring was shown over where the center statue was: a beautiful girl covered in chains. As they approached the statue, the glow subsided as a group three monsters appeared. They were Hob Goblins: small demonic creatures with a shield in the left hand and a mace in the right.
"Damn." Amanda cursed. "Hob Goblins are weak monsters usually but they are starting at Level 7, while none of use have gone that high yet."
"Hmm..." Kyle thought aloud.
"Good hmm, or bad hmm?" Jeri asked.
Kyle grinned. "Definitely a good hmm. As Alan is fond of saying: I have a cunning plan. Amanda, you and your partners take the one on the right. Betamon you and Roll take the one on the left. Alan and I will take the one in the center."
As the party separated, Kyle blocked a blow from his foe with his mace as Alan slashed the Hobgoblin a couple times with his sword, weakening it considerably. "Sword Magic: Fire Blade!" Alan commanded. The emerald gem built into his sword (just below where the blade met the hilt) glowed, causing the blade to ignite with orange flame. Alan leapt at the monster, slashing him on his belly and then below the waist. The hobgoblin's body turned gray as he was defeated.
Alan smirked. "Well that was easy enough. Looks like I'm now at level 3. Should we help them?"
Kyle thought about it than shook his head. "Nah. If they need us we'll help them before they get killed."
Betamon fired Water Towers at their Hob Goblin weakening him considerably. Jeri was doing something that reminded Kyle of Henry of Digimon Tamers and his matial arts. "Take this ugly! Electric Shock!" A blast of electricity came from Betamon's fin blasting the one monster and knocking the other into him.
Roll smirked slightly. "Time to take advantage of this. Roll Blast!" A string of fire blasts came from her headband as she blasted one of the fallen monsters as he deleted. Amanda swung her sword at the head of the final monster bisecting him in a messy(but efficient) way.
Amanda looked at the readout that her screen displayed. "According to this: I've gotten to Level three, Roll is at Level 4, Gazimon just needs a little experience before she can go to level 4 and Jeri is just a few points shy of level 5."
Kyle frowned. "Hey Alan, how come her experience is that high?"
Alan shrugged. "She got a lot of points for beating Black Gatomon, I guess."
Amanda turned to Roll. "Roll, what time is it?"
The navi answered. "It is 7:36 pm, Eastern Standard time."
Amanda smacked her digital self. "Oh, nut bunnies! I'm late, I'm late! Sorry guys, but I have to get off, now! If you need me for a dungeon or just to talk, send an email to my Member Address. The best place is either Silver Hills, Oldale Town, or Mac Anu. Right now, I got to go!"
Golden rings surrounded her, as she and her navi logged out. Kyle picked up a couple items lying on the ground. "Looks like the monsters dropped these items. Lets see: Miner's Gloves, Lath Blades, and a note?"
Alan looked at him strangely. "A note? What's it say?"
"It says 'Things are not what they appear to be. Take heart, traveler. The most unlikely ally could be your best friend.' Sounds rather cryptic to me." Kyle read it aloud.
"I wonder if Dungeon Master is gonna turn up?" Alan quipped. "Listen, you might as well keep those items. I have to get up early tomorrow, so I'm saving then going to bed."
Kyle nodded. "I think I'm going to stay for a few minutes then do the same. I'll see you later, Alan. Who knows? Maybe we'll see Ann or some of our other friends here."
"Good point. Be seeing you." He and Jeri faded in golden rings as they logged out.
Betamon looked at Kyle. "Kyle what is it?"
"I'm just trying to figure out who left this note here, and why. I mean it seems this WASN'T an accident."
"Perhaps, but maybe you shouldn't dwell on it." She replied
"Maybe. While I log out, think you can try to find out some for info about the other cities in this Server?"
"Sure."
"Good night, Betamon."
"Good night, Kyle."
Closing her eyes, three golden rings of data surrounded Betamon's body and whisked Kyle back to the real world.