.hack/PRESENT

Phew. Finally able to update after all that schoolwork I've been having.

Disclaimer: As I've said for the past 6 chapters, I don't own .hack.

And now….

CHAPTER 7: FIGHT FOR KITE

It was just an ordinary day in Mac Anu. Kite stood over the bridge looking down into the river. Not having anything to do, he logged out. He checked his e-mail and ran down the list of messages from his friends. He stumbled across the mail from Blackrose that left him in question for a quite a time. The message that contained the sentence "I think I may be in love with you" of course, at the bottom it stated she was just kidding. Kite re-read through Sora's peculiar w4y 0f 7ypin9 m3554935 and considered seeing some of the movies Sanjuro had suggested in the past through e-mail. He went through some of Mistral's letters containing some food ideas she had which Kite didn't find THAT appetizing once he tried them.

He scrolled through the list to find a particular message from Natsume explaining how she could now do the flex arm hang as well as say "Kite, I think I'm in love with you". The first time he read that, he jumped out of his seat and knocked over the neuro-goggle. He could still feel a part of the head mounted display set that was chipped from when that happened. The same day he read that e-mail, he got two others, one from Blackrose and one from Terajima Ryoko, both inviting him to the same dungeon to find a very rare weapon for a heavyblade or heavyaxe. Both wanted to go their separate ways in that dungeon, but it was clear that they wanted Kite to go with one or the other. He was put in the middle for some time before choosing a path. The weapon turned out to be a rare twinblade weapon. Heck, that trip may have not been so bad after all.

A lot of time passed and Kite logged back on. Three female players greeted him the moment his avatar appeared.

"Oh, Kite, I was just looking for you." Blackrose, Terajima, and Natsume said in unison. "Huh?"

"Um… all three of you need to see me?"

"I don't know about those other two, but it seems there's this dungeon that's suppose to have a really rare item for heavyblades, so I was going to ask you to come."

"Hm? How coincidental. I was going to ask the same thing. There's this very strong axe weapon in a dungeon that I read in the board." Terajima said.

"Hm? You two as well? I was gong to ask him to accompany me to a dungeon that has a good twinblade item."

'NO! Not this! I know where this is going…..' Kite thought. "So, um, where exactly are these weapons located?"

"OMEGA Confused Neutral Knight" all three girls said in unison.

'Yep… I knew it….' Kite thought.

"Huh? That can't be. There's only suppose to be a heavyblade item there."

"I read only heavyaxe items are located in that dungeon."

"Actually, it's a twinblade's treasure that's in there."

Kite was going to log off to prevent being involved but all three girls had grabbed him, ran up to the chaos gate, and warped to OMEGA Confused Neutral Knight.

"Okay, we'll just have to see what's in that dungeon." Blackrose said.

"Um… we're all at level 99. Are you sure we really need any more rare weapons? I mean…" Kite began.

"Of course. Besides, I need a stronger weapon to make up for the attack power lost from some of my armor items." Blackrose interrupted.

"Same here. And I do believe we will make it faster by going to the left this time." Terajima said at Blackrose, recalling a past event.

"Well I say I'm right by going right."

"I still believe we should have gone left!"

"Well, I heard there's a four-way intersection in the dungeon, so I say we go straight though the middle." Natsume said.

"No, it has to be left. I'm sure of it."

"It's Right!"

"Left!"

"I say it's middle."

Kite hit his head against a nearby stone. He couldn't stand this type of situation. The three's argument continued all the way into the dungeon to where the four-way intersection Natsume mentioned appeared.

"Okay, I got it. We'll just go our separate ways then." Blackrose said.

"Alright. Fine by me." Terajima said.

"I agree." Natsume said. "but wait, what about Kite? Who's he going to go with?"

"Hm… yeah… who do you think is correct Kite?" Terajima asked.

"Uh… well… can't I just wait for you three to return here later?" Kite asked. He was given an immediate answer.

"NO."

"Ugh… well….." Kite looked toward the three options. He didn't know what to do. He could always use the sprite ocarina to warp out, but that would be rude to exit without doing anything.

"Well?" all three asked.

"Um… I'm thinking…"

"You don't need to think. It's obviously to the right. So just come with me and we can get…" Blackrose started.

"Excuse me, but I still believe it's left. So Kite should just go in this direction and we…" Terajima interrupted but was she was cut off as well.

"If I may, but I think Kite should come with me down the middle road." Natsume said.

"It is left!"

"No! It's right!"

"Middle!"

"Left!"

"Right!"

"Middle!"

"Left!"

"Right!"

"Middle!"

"Left!"

"It is right! And I'll fight to prove my point!"

"Are you suggesting that I fight you!" Terajima shot back a glare.

"If fighting is the only way to solve this, than that's what I'll do!" Natsume exclaimed. Soon, heavyblade, heavyaxe, and twinblade were attacking each other ruthlessly. The clashing of their weapons were echoing through out the entire dungeon. War cries were replaced with the player's respective direction. Soon, the yelling of directions was replaced with "Kite's going with me." Or "Kite will choose me!". Hearing this, Kite turned to leave but bumped into a familiar painted muscular body.

"Oh, Orca, what are you doing here?" Kite asked.

"Hey there. I read on the board that there was suppose to be a really strong blademaster item in this dungeon."

"AAAH!" Kite fell over. How many weapons was this dungeon suppose to have?

"Hm?" Orca noticed the three girls fighting "Hey, what's up with them?"

"Don't ask…" Kite said, getting up. Just as the three were going to give each other a deathblow strike, a familiar and bubbly voice emerged from down the right doorway.

"Hey? What's going on in here?" The fighting stopped as everyone say Mistral enter the room with a staff glowing bright blue.

"Hi Mistral. Hm? Where'd you get that staff?"

"Isn't it great? I went to the bottom of this dungeon to the gott statue and I found this ultra, super-duper rare wavemaster staff!" Blackrose, Natsume, and Terajima fell silent. All this time and it was a wavemaster's item.

"…..Hm? how come it's so quiet all of the sudden?" Orca asked. Behind him, Balmung had finished defeating a monster, but left with a confusion effect on him as the beast's final resort. The winged knight ran up to Orca, not being able to control his body.

"Orca! Run!"

"Huh? AAAH!" Balmung thrusted his sword through Orca's body under the confusion effect.

"Huh?"

"Wha?"

"Yikes!"

"Ah..!"

"What?"

Everyone was in shock. Balmung had killed Orca and the confusion had worn off the very second he pulled his sword from Orca's now limp body.

"HA! I knew it! He really is a player killer!" Mistral yelled.

"What? You can't possibly still be thinking that!" Balmung shouted.

"Don't play dumb, we saw you right now kill Orca!" Blackrose shot at him.

"Hey, now that he's back to player killing, we can turn him in for money!" Terajima said.

"Yeah! Let's do it!" Natsume said.

"What! Please! I was under the confusion effect! Surely you all know that one cannot control their character under that spell!"

"Sorry, never heard of it." All three girls said simultaneously, obviously lying.

"Kite! Please, tell me that you believe me!"

"Well, I…" Kite began, but was interrupted.

"C'mon Kite! Let's collect our money!" the four girls grabbed him and ran after the winged knight as he fled with a speed charm activated.

"When I collect the bounty, I'll share it with you Kite." Blackrose said while still running.

"Not unless I collect it first. I'll make sure I split it with Kite." Natsume said.

"Well I believe I will be the one to capture him. I'll be happy to give more than just half of it." Terajima said. Mistral caught up with them.

"Well I'm just going to capture him and collect the GP period. With all that money, think of all the neat items I'll get!"

"Mistral! Don't be so greedy!" Blackrose said. Just then, everyone heard the familiar sound of the three golden rings that always appeared when someone logged out.

"Huh? Where's Kite?"

"Did he log out?"

"Hm… must have had to reset his computer."

Kite had removed the headset and turned off his computer. He needed a REALLY long break.

NEXT CHAPTER: VIRUS CORE

Preview: After a time of relaxation, Kite logs in again only to see the root towns deteriorating. Data bugs are appearing again and it seems the source of this new infection has the data for the real Present for the Spring of Myst event. With this news in mind, Kite sets out to claim what he and the others were really suppose to win.