.hack/PRESENT
Disclaimer: By now you should know that I do not own .hack. Now, here's the next chapter...
CHAPTER 6: SEARCH CONTINUES
Kite walked to the Chaos gate. His inventory full with all necessities and weapons he needed. He was ready to continue the search for the Spring of Myst now that the issue with the player killings has been cleared. Blackrose logged in shortly afterward.
"Hey, you're earlier than me for once." She said to her twinblade partner.
"Heh, that I am. We just need to wait for Mistral and we can be off."
"HELLO!" the wavemaster said, appearing right behind them.
"AAH!" both Kite and Blackrose jumped and turned to see Mistral standing there.
"Hey! I thought you said you wouldn't sneak up behind us like that anymore!" Blackrose shouted.
"Oops. I forgot. So, where are we going?"
"Well, we're going to Carmina Gadalica. We've checked mostly all of the of the first two servers, so I thought we should head there." Kite said.
"Great. Let's go." The trio was surrounded by golden rings and appeared in the night streets of the cultural city. Kite was about to type in key words until he heard something land in the back of the group.
"5PR0iN9! H3110!"
"Oh… it's you." Blackrose said with a slightly irritated tone.
"it 533M5 y0u 6Uy5 4R3 90in9 50M3P14c3. Mind if I c0m3 410n9?
"Yes, we mind. And why are you now typing out messages like some newb?"
"Wh47'5 wr0n9? C4n'7 r34d my 7ypin9? 700 h4rd f0r y0u?" Sora typed.
"Sorry Sora, but we're on a search, and according to the set rules of the event, we can only have a party of three."
"444hhh…. 7hat'5 t00 b4d. I h4d s0m3 inf0 480ut 7h47 funny spin6 I saw 7h3 07h3r d4y.
"had…some…info…about…that…funny…." Blackrose said, trying to read Sora's typing "spring…I…saw…the other day? WAIT! What funny spring!"
"0000… y0u'r3 sh0win6 in73r357. Hmmm….. h0w 480u7 w3 m4k3 4 d341?"
"What kind of deal?" Kite asked.
"137 m3 j0in y0ur p4r7y. I c4n 7311 y0u w3r3 I f0und i7."
"Oh, um, well…."
"Uh oh…" Mistral said "the baby's crying. Sorry, I need to log off." Mistral's character was surrounded by golden rings and disappeared.
"W311, i7 100k5 1ik3 I'11 83 c0min9 wi7h y0u."
"Whatever. Kite, let's get this over with quickly."
"Alright. Sora, where did you see this "'funny' spring?" Kite asked but before he knew it, Sora had already typed in the words and they were warped to a snowy field.
"An ice field? Are you sure? I don't think Springs of Myst appear in these types of fields."
"4h… 8u7 h4v3 y0u 3v3r 7ri3d di99in9?"
"Well, no, but…"
"4nd 7h47'5 my p0in7!"
"Oh, it's buried. I get it."
"Ri9h7! N0w l37'5 90!" Sora ran ahead only to stumble across a magic portal. "RRRR… 57upid m0n573r5 pi55 m3 0ff!" Sora began attacking them with his ninja speed. Kite withdrew his own two short swords. Both twinblades finished off the monster quickly. Sora, being as active as ever ran off ahead. Kite stopped when he noticed Blackrose behind.
"Hey, Blackrose? Are you okay?" Kite looked to his shivering partner.
"I-I-I-it's c-c-cold-d-d…. I can't s-s-stand fields like t-t-this…" Kite took off his backpack and dug through it and pulled out a leather coat item.
"Here, take this." Kite placed the coat over Blackrose's shoulders and she wrapper her body to try keeping in the warmth.
"Thanks Kite." Blackrose said and smiled at Kite.
"Sure thing Blackrose." Kite said, smiling back as well.
"H3Y! Hurry up 41r34dy y0u 10v38ird5! 7h3 5prin9 5ti11 4w4it5!"
"Hurry…up…" Kite read, trying to comprehend Sora's typing. "already… you………" Kite stopped there upon deciphering the next word.
"What the..! SORA!" Kite and Blackrose yelled in unison.
"Okay, now let's get going again." Orca said, sheathing the sword he just polished.
"Right." Balmung replied. Both descendants of Fianna were at Lia Fail. "Sanjuro is waiting for us in the field already."
"Alright." Orca typed in the key words. Both blademasters were warped to a desert field.
"Hm? Strange. Sanjuro is suppose to be here…" Balmung said. He looked into the distance to see Sanjuro fighting off a monster, but it wasn't just an ordinary fiend. The creature glowed bright green as it was covered in green hexagons. "?….a… a data bug?"
"How'd that get here? I thought we were through with them!" Orca said.
"It seems there are still some remnants…" Balmung said, rushing over to aid Sanjuro with Orca following.
"8in90!" Sora yelled as he stopped in his tracks. "W3 di9 h3r3."
"Okay." Kite began digging with his hands. He dug at least 6 inches before he hit something hard. "Hm?" the twinblade began to dig around him and uncovered a frozen spring. He could even see the orange figure of the Grandpa that would inhabit these springs.
"This has to be it! Let's break it open!" Blackrose said.
"Y0u r34d my mind." Sora said as he starting releasing and retracting his blades at will against the frozen spring. Soon, the ice broke. "C4-chin9!" Soon after Sora broke that one part of the ice, the ground they were standing on started to crack.
"Oh great… just our luck…." Blackrose said. The trio soon fell through a seemingly endless hole.
"Kite? Kite? Hey, wake up!" Kite opened his eyes to see Blackrose.
"Huh? Uh… where…?"
"You had landed on your head. You were out for a little while."
"Hmmmm… 4 dun930n und3r 7h47 sprin9. N0w 7h47's in73r357in9."
"…..?…. ah…" Kite remembered what had happened. The trio had fell through that dark pit. "Hm…." Kite took out a fairy's orb to examine the area. " this place is pretty large. Hm?" the bracelet had lit once again, and the five arrows pointed toward the door. "Hm…. Let's go." Kite and the other two ran through the door. It was an easy run since there were no monsters on the first floor. When the group entered the second basement floor, Kite used another fairy's orb only to discover that there was only one more room ahead. In it, they found a Spring of Myst glowing green.
"A-HA! This must be it!" Blackrose exclaimed. Kite stepped up to it and a figure like Monsieur and Grandpa appeared but rather than blue or orange, it was green.
"Congratulations! You are the winners of the 'Special Spring of Myst' contest. For your ha…" the giant drop was saying until Sora interrupted.
"Y34h, y34h, wh473v3r! N0w wh47'5 0ur priz3!"
"Ah yes, here you go. This is CC Corporation's present to you." A small gift box popped out of the water below the floating drop. Kite picked it up and opened it.
"What is it? What is it?" Blackrose asked eagerly.
"It's…. it's…. a FORTUNE WIRE." The room fell silent.
"WWWWHHHAAAATTT?" Blackrose's cry echoed throughout the entire area. "All we get is a stupid fortune wire?"
"Ch34P!" Sora yelled.
"Sorry, but the set of data bugs running freely has caused us to give that speed charm as a temporary prize. Please come back when the problem is fixed." The green drop disappeared.
"Huh? Data bugs?" Kite said. He heard the familiar ring of email go off. "I'm going to log off for a few seconds." Kite's character disappeared. Kite read the new mail.
Dear 'The World' User,
This is a warning sent to all players. It seems there are traces of monsters that have infinite HP or Data Bugs lurking about in the fields. We advice all players to play in low level fields and servers while the employees at CC Corp. deal with the issue. We sincerely apologize.
-CC Corporation
Kite logged back in. Blackrose was waiting at the chaos gate.
"I got a letter from CC corp." she said.
"Yeah. There are still data bugs in 'The World'.
"Ugh! I can't believe this! We go through all that and because of those damn bugs, we're left with just a Fortune wire as our prize! I hate this!"
"I hate it too, but if we don't do something about the data bugs, then we won't be able to obtain what was the intended gift."
"You're right. Well, it's back to old times, huh?"
"Yeah, it is."
NEXT CHAPTER: FIGHT FOR KITE
Preview: Data bugs. Now that they've returned, Kite must venture off and destroy them just as before. But it won't be easy once he gets isolated from the others. He'll have to fight for his life with all the infected monsters around him. But that's not the only fight. Natsume, Terajima, and Blackrose have their own conflict.