.hack/PRESENT
Here it is. Final chapter to .hack/PRESENT
A/N: Sorry! I couldn't reach the 24-hour deadline like I promised in the previous chapter. My teachers had bombarded me with homework that day, but now that I got that out of the way, I can continue writing.
Disclaimer: Phew. This is the final time I'll be saying I don't own .hack
CHAPTER 10: PRESENT
"A hot spring?" Kite, Blackrose, and Mistral said in unison.
"Yes. The Spring of Myst for the event was actually suppose to be a hot spring in a isolated area. Of course, during the time, we had trouble with that data bug." Lios explained.
"It was originally called the Twilight Springs which was used in 'The World' before."
"There was a hot spring already in this game?" Mistral asked.
"…well… yes, and no." Helba said, recalling the same spring being located in a parallel plane of reality known as "GIFT".
"You can warp to this area anytime during the game even if you're in a different field as long as you're not in battle mode. You can restore all your SP, HP, and recover from any status effects from battles."
"Alright! I can give my staff a rest with this spring." Mistral said cheerfully.
"Hm?" Lios' character stood still for a moment. "What! Damn it! That 'Present' monster tampered with data outside this area. You three will have to stay here as the root town is temporarily down." Lios logged out to get to work on the matter.
"Well, if you excuse me, I have some work of my own I need to attend to." Helba said as she logged off.
"Hey, why don't we try out the hot spring? I'm tired out from that battle."
"Yeah. I could use a refreshing bath as well."
"Uh… yeah, you two go ahead, I'll be out over there." Kite said.
"But Kite, you're under a poison effect." Mistral informed.
"Huh?" Kite looked at his mug at the bottom of the screen. He hadn't realized his character had been poisoned from the data drain he performed. To his misfortune, neither he nor his allies had any antidote on them and neither had any skills for treating the effect. Not to mention his HP was on the verge of dropping to zero. "I guess I should go in first, huh?"
"Alright, there's nothing in between us now. I say we finish what we started." Crim said drawing his spear.
"Y0u'r3 57i11 g0ing 0n 480u7 7h47 847713? Fin3 7h3n! I c4n 8347 y0u wi7h0u7 3v3n u5ing my 814d35!" Sora said as he unequipped his retractable blades.
"Then what are you fighting with?"
"With these!" Sora pulled out two maracas.
"What? This is a joke, right?"
"N0p3."
"Those things don't stand a chance against me!"
"W311, 533 h0w y0u 1ik3 7hi5!" Sora dashed toward Crim and started knocking on his head multiple times. As he moved about, mariachi band music began playing in the background.
"Ow! Hey! What kind of item is that? Ow!" Crim said trying to fight back against Sora's blows.
"50rry, n0 7311."
"AHA! Thou have located the culprit again!" Piros had appeared next to Crim.
"0h 8r07h3r. I 7h0ugh7 I w0u1d 47 13a57 kn0ck 50m3 53n53 in70 y0ur 8r4in. Wh473v3r. I c4n 74k3 y0u 807h 0n 47 0nc3!"
"Then Thou shall determine that! RAAAH!" Piros shouted as he ran toward Sora waving his axe in the air.
"Y4wn. Wh47 4 80r3." Sora stepped to the side with a single leg sticking out causing the heavyaxeman to trip. "Hmmm… p3rh4p5 7h47 8rick I 7hr3w 47 y0u m4d3 y0u 1355 c00rdin473d."
"And that's another thing I want to settle with you!" Crim yelled as he dove after Sora. As he was about to swing his spear, something landed in front of him and pointed a blade at his face.
"You still need to repent for the wing you destroyed!" Balmung said with an angry look at Crim.
"I thought I explained that I'll find a way to fix it. But Right now I…"
"Either you fix it now, or I kill you! My wings are what make me Balmung of the Azure Sky! Without them I cannot ascend to the blue above!"
"I 533 y0u h4v3 y0ur h4nd5 fu11. I'11 ju57 134v3 y0u f0r n0w. 8uh 8y3!" Sora said as he jumped up and gated out.
"Hey! Wait! Get back here! Damn it!"
"Ahem." Balmung said.
"Listen. If you want all the details, it's because of that twinblade that you lost your wing. If he hadn't moved out of the way I would have….AH!" Crim blocked a strike from Balmung's sword. 'Not this again.'
"aaahhh… this is so relaxing." Mistral said.
"Agreed. Who'd of thought there was a hot spring in this game?" Blackrose said. She and Mistral took their time rather thanKite whohad only stayed in the spring just enough to heal the poison and got out. He stayed in the street section of the area, swinging his blades at an imaginary monster.
"Well, now that this is all over, I wonder what else there is to do."
"There's the item completion event that's still going on. I only have 92 more items to go!"
"What do you win out of that event anyway?"
"Well, I hear you win this great, huge, rare, ultra…" Before Mistral could continue, a noise sounding like a thump was heard off in the distance. Ripples in the hot spring begun to appear with every 'thump' that went by (picture Jurassic Park and the water rings in the glass.) "Huh? What's that?"
"I don't know. It couldn't be a monster. Could it?"
Kite stopped swinging his swords as the shaking of the ground intensified and the thumping got louder.
"Hey! What's going on out here?" Blackrose said after getting dressed followed by Mistral.
"I don't know. But I doubt it's just here to say hello." Kite said getting in twinblade stance. A large structure was advancing toward the group. As it came closer, they got a better view of it. A large gift-wrapped box at least 50 feet tall had moved forward and stopped in front of the trio.
"Oooooo… There must be a really cool item inside this thing!" Mistral said as she ran up to it. Unfortunately, the giant present turned out to be a monster. As the wavemaster got close, the mighty gift box revealed its fangs and unleashed an earth-trembling roar. "AAAAHH! What is this thing?" Mistral quickly ran behind Kite and Blackrose.
"That gift box… it's…" Kite looked at the top of the beast as the lid slid open and hundreds of thousands of tendrils of ribbon came sprawling through the air and shooting in all directions. "LOOK OUT!" Kite dove to the side to avoid an incoming strand of ribbon that punctured through the rocky ground. The twinblade ran around the already implanted ribbons in the ground and dashed in to attack the enormous box. To his surprise, the monsters HP was already reading zero on it's health meter. All attacks Kite executed did absolutely nothing except create the sound effect heard when attacking any monster. "Wha…? Nothing works…"
The enormous gift let out another ground-shaking roar. As it let it out, everything around started becoming white with static in the background until the screen was nothing but a white blur.
SYSTEM ERROR… SYSTEM ERROR… SYSTEM ERROR…
Kite removed the neuro goggles. He reset his computer and tried logging back on, but the system error message only repeated itself. A day later, he received a e-mail from CC Corp and one from Helba.
To all 'The World' Users,
We apologize for the system error message that is appearing whenever one tries to log on. We should have the server back running in about a week or so. Until then, please be patient. Thank you.
-CC Corp.
Dear Kite,
I was doing some research, and I may have some answers behind the system error that occurred the other day. That monster you saw in the area you were at seems to have programming and coding that is very similar to the eight phases. If I'm correct, that giant gift box you saw may be linked to this "Spring of Myst" event. That includes the encounter with Skeith imitation you saw. I'll e-mail you if I have any more information.
-Helba
What was going on here? Kite knew he may be called again very soon to take care of matters involving the system failure. It was getting late. He turned off his computer and turned out the lights.
THE END? Of course not. Be sure to keep your eyes open for the sequel .hack/REWARD. Kite and co. sets off on another adventure but the areas they are to investigate aren't what you'd normally see in 'The World'.
Until then, see ya.
A/N: Thank you everyone who has reviewed this story so far. I just love the feed back.