Wow….that last chapter was put together horribly. I made some changes to it so that it wasn't so messed up. Let's see if I can do any better with these. For those who have been awaiting the last set of chapters, please forgive me, I'm terribly slow.

Chapter Six: Friends or Foes?

            I just wanted you near me…

            I just want you here with me…

            One Monday Tawna caught the bus an hour earlier to head to school. She had requested a meeting with the G-Study Advisor in hopes of explaining what had happened with the missing laptop. Heading up the hill, she was surprised to see how many students were crowding around out front of the building in a huge circle. Evidently something was going on.

            Usually she wouldn't have bothered, but since she was early anyway and her curiosity was getting the better of her, she quietly walked over to the group and tip toed to look over a small sophomore's shoulder.

            Two black-haired men were going through the paces of advanced martial arts by testing each other with spars. Many of the group watching was admiring girls while the few men in the crowd were shouting out moves and strategies to the two locked in combat. The junior noticed upon searching the small crowd that Raine was standing close to the inside, her arms crossed over her chest and a proud smile on her face.

            With a startling kick the taller of the men sent the smaller back and landed on his feet squarely. "Not bad Nenji. You're getting better." Adjusting locks of raven hair from his face, Tawna realized it was Hiko who had beaten Nenji as he reached for his glasses from Raine and slid them on. The group began swarming the two and the redhead found it best to leave now.

            Walking up the steps and into school, she paused to open her locker as she slipped off her shoes. Throwing the small door open, she grabbed her school shoes and put them on, shoving her older ones inside.

            "Tobuowanai-sempai you were awesome!"

            "You too Amiya-san!"

            The group had drifted inside and its leader had caught sight of the shy crimson-haired junior. "Ah, Tawna." His lavender eyes danced behind his thin glasses. "It's a surprise to see you here this early."

            She looked over, her eyes widening as she realized he was still standing with a large group of men. "I have business to attend to in G-Study. But it's nice to see you up so early as well. Your match with Amiya-sempai was impressive, Tobuowanai-kun."

            Sensing part of the problem he smiled, turning back to his friends. "Guys I'll see you later in class, alright?"

            One of his friends blinked. "Sure man. Whatever."

            As the three other guys walked off, Hiko turned back to the girl. "What's with the formality all of a sudden?"

            She blushed slightly. "We're in school. Yesterday I called you by your player name because I thought repeatedly calling you by your last name would be giving out private information over the net and I didn't want to offend you. But in school-"

            "Nothing's different." He cut in softly with a smile. "We're friends now. We play on the same team. I would rather prefer you call me by my first name." He raised an eyebrow. "Do you mind if I call you by yours?"

            "Not at all." She shook her head. "And…I will call you by your first name, but only when it is not needed for me to call you formally."

            "Good enough. I will speak to Raine and Nenji and see which they prefer you call them, since it is such a big deal to you." He grinned. "But for now, you can go about you business as wished. I hope to see you soon." He started to walk off and then immediately turned around. "Oh. You didn't get in trouble yesterday, did you? Lena explained to me the problem late last night, or a least part of it anyway."

            "No, I didn't get in trouble." She smiled back.

            "I'm glad. I was worried for a while." With that knowledge known he continued on his way. "I hope you find out what you need to, to help your friend Tomonari-chan."

            She nodded momentarily to his back before dashing off in the opposite direction. Now she had to gather her courage so that she could tell this interesting tale to the G-study president.

            "…so you see sir, I didn't mean to keep it from you. I just needed to test these theories out for myself." She swallowed, waiting for his answer.

            The senior had been pacing back and forth, adjusting his glasses. It had been the first time she had actually gotten a chance to meet the club's president and she could tell he wasn't happy. But by his panicked strides back and forth and the way he fidgeted, Tawna couldn't help but want to giggle. 'He looks like a complete computer nerd. The only other guy I know who wears glasses is Hiko, and he's way better looking than this guy.'

            "Saganachi-san." He spoke up, turning to look at her. "This is a most serious matter. The g-study team has already asked the school to purchase another laptop to replace the one that was stolen. The school had also filed a report to the police."

            "I'll return the computer as soon as I'm done with it! I actually didn't think I'd need it for as long as I've had it. I promise I haven't broken anything on it. I'm pretty good with computers. Himatari-sempai, I'm at your mercy for this. I never meant to harm anyone or anything. I just want to do what I can to help Tomonari!"

            He stared at her, pale cerulean eyes behind his glasses. "That's right, Tomonari was a good friend of yours. Mine too." Smiling he dropped his glance. "For now…" he hesitated. "We'll act as if you never told me this. I will ask the school board to drop the police report. As far as the old computer, I don't know what to do with it now."

            "I could probably pay for it." She spoke up. "I don't have much money, but I do have a savings account. You could bill me for it."

            "That would be up to our advisor and your parents." He responded immediately.

            "No!" she shook her head. "Don't tell my Mom about this. Her and my sister worry about me enough as is. They don't need to know I'm playing online. Please. I've been taking huge risks here, but I'm determined to get to the bottom of this."

            He sighed, turning away. "We'll figure something out then. Saganachi-san, you're dismissed."

            She nodded, getting up to walk out of the room, just in time to hear the bell. "Perfect timing." She muttered.

            Heading through the wing she made her way to her class. Sliding the door open she got a mere three-second glimpse of the room before she was tackled, sending her back up against the door. "Tawny! You're the best! I had so much fun yesterday! Thanks for getting me to play!"

            "Lena…" she sighed, blinking her golden eyes. "What's this all about?"

            "Here. Check it out." The girl hopped back and pulled out a small wallet-sized photo from her purse. Her small hands placed it in the girls own with a brilliant smile. "Isn't he cute?"

            "Wow." The picture was of a handsome youth in a blue and white soccer uniform. He had dark tan skin, quite a contrast to his jaw-length platinum hair. His deep emerald eyes were bright, reflecting the sunlight that graced itself on the soccer field. He had a nice smile, one that wanted to make you smile back in return. "I take it this is Keita?"

            She nodded. "Do I know how to pick guys or what? Hiko-kun knows him too. He's a player on a rival soccer team." She paused, digging through her bag and pulling out yet another small photo. "Here, this for you. It's a reminder of your role-playing friends." Her eyes softened a bit as she stared up into the other girl's face. "You know," she started, almost to quietly for her chipper attitude. "I can't believe how much time you're spending online. He really would be amazed."

            "Yeah…well, you have to face your fears, right?" she forced herself to smile back, before she went to stare at the tiny picture. It was taken from one of those souvenir photo booths set up at most movie theatres and parks. Her small best friend was leaning against the handsome silver-haired man, both smiling back into the camera's gaze. "Thanks Lena." She said, gesturing to the picture. "I'll put it in my room, to remind me of you guys when I can't play online."

            "Alright, ladies, get to your seats. I need to take attendance." Their homeroom teacher softly reprimanded them.

            "I'll see you online after school right?" Hirelena asked as they parted to their seats.

            "No." she shook her head. "I'm heading to the hospital after school. Tomorrow."

            Tuesday Tawna was introduced again to Nenji and Raine, and at Hiko's insistence, she dropped the formality in calling them by their last names. Lena told her that she wouldn't be able to get online tonight because she was going to a soccer game to watch Keita play, and Nenji and Hiko themselves had practice so she would be all alone in 'The World.' Or so she thought before she checked her e-mail messages.

            "Savana!" Hikaru called to her once she had entered Dun Lorieag. "You finally got my message."

            "Yeah, sorry about that. I had matters to attend to yesterday." She grinned sheepishly.

            "It's alright. You're just lucky that we're both online." She grinned. "Come on. When I got your reply, I forward it to Balmung. He's waiting."

            They were careful not to be followed up the mountain path, as servers were always the most crowded at night and any curious player who had seen them leave town would probably get lost or killed if they attempted to follow. Savana had a hard time as it was keeping up with the wavemaster's gliding stride.

            Opening a door the winged-mage led her through a massive front lobby up a pair of wooden steps to a wide room on the second floor where the descendant of Fianna himself was waiting.

            "Balmung-" she started half in awe at the palace she had been led through.

            "Where the hell have you been!" he demanded, walking up to her. "I've been trying to get a hold of you for two days now!"

            "Sorry I have an actual life!" she shot back, bewildered and annoyed by his sudden anger with her. "And it's nice to see you too! I was going to compliment you on this gorgeous building, but not if your going to act like an asshole!"

            He gritted his teeth and turned away for a minute. "I'm sorry. I just-" he sighed slightly. "I was worried about you."

            'He was worried about me?'  Crimson touched her dark cheeks. "Well, you don't have to worry about me. I'm not a newbie anymore, although I do enjoy your company."

            He looked over his shoulder at her a minute, before coming over to face her. "Alright then…" he smiled. "So you like the house do you?"

            "Like it? I love it! This must have taken forever for the coders to put together. Everything's so detailed." She grinned.

            His eyes lit up for a moment. "I'm glad you like it so much. I did all the coding for it."

            "You did?" her jaw dropped. "H-How?!"

            "I… just did. I gave the design to the admin board; they accepted it and I paid to have it made. That simple."

            "Big brother's pretty good with stuff like that. Like I said he was the one who gave me my wings, meaning with the admin's permission he gave them the code and they installed it into my character." Hikaru added.

            "Isn't it almost as the same as hacking?" the blademaster asked, blinking.

            "Somewhat." The wavemaster put in quickly before Balmung could get his two cents in about hackers. "But where they steal and alter things illegally, we make sure we have the permission of the administrators before we do anything."

            "I see…" she nodded. "So what are we up to today? Is there an event or something happening tonight?"

            "No." Balmung shook his head. "We're going to check out a corrupted area, and I thought it best if Hikaru came with us this time."

            "That's sounds interesting. So what are the keywords this time boss?" Savana grinned.

            He raised an ivory eyebrow at her in response but answered the question. "Beta, Chosen Hopeless Nothingness."

            "Well, I guess I'm getting used to this." The crimson-headed blademaster replied, staring at the glowing green night sky and word glitches showing gaps through the pictures.

            "I'm just glad nothing's surprised us yet." The knight added.

            "Just keep on guard." Hikaru twirled her staff.

            "Oh, come on guys. I don't feel like fighting." Savana grinned mischievously pulling out a wooden flute. Playing a few hollow notes, a whole opened up in the floor and second later a bulky, bright colored grunty appeared, his big brown eyes shining in the dim light.

            "You called Mistress?" he spoke. "Ribbit!"

            "Hey that's a great idea." Hikaru smiled. Within moments she had summoned up her brown and white noble grunty.

            Balmung blinked his emerald eyes. "Okay….." a second later there was an iron grunty awaiting instructions from its master. "I would have preferred to fight, but that will work." In one swift movement he vaulted up onto the animal's massive back.

            The dungeon couldn't have been missed. A huge looming tower built in its center, it could be seen from miles around before disappearing into the shadows of darkness. The trio left their gruties tied up outfront by the entrance and cautiously entered the building. It wasn't until long that they were thrown into battle after battle, as the magic portals had somewhat been put to block all possible entrances to the next floor. Picking up items was an added bonus and Savana and Hikaru even congratulated Balmung on leveling up, a rare occurrence for the master player. Entering level five proved to be different than any other floor. The fairy's orb could not register any data about the area and the last room led to a dead end.

            "Looks like its nothing." Hikaru sighed. "We better turn around."

            "Wait." The descendant of Fianna halted. "Someone's nearby. Come on!"

            Dashing off they turned the corner into another room just in time to see a green haired twin blader wearing red and yellow accompanied by a pink-headed heavy blader wearing purple and gold.

            "You two again." The male blademaster gritted his teeth. "Explain."

            "Explain my ass! We don't have to tell you anything!" the heavyblader retorted.

            "I already told him everything the other day." The twin blade told her calmly. Casting his steel blue gaze on Balmung he smiled. "We're just her to check things out, same as you."

            "I'll come back another time then. " the knight turned and abruptly gated out.

            "Balmung!" Hikaru cried. "Now is not the time to play your stupid little games!" she too, was gone in a flash.

            Savana swallowed. Here was her chance to talk to the twin blade she had heard about on the board. "Sorry about that.' She grinned sheepishly, not knowing what else to say. "I don't know what got into him. I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Savana, a blademaster."

            "I'm Kite." The boy nodded, a smile warming his oddly good-looking face.

            "And I'm BlackRose, a heavy blade." The girl held up a hand.

            "So what are you guys doing down here anyways? This level's kinda creepy." The blademaster asked casually.

            "We were actually hoping we'd find someone. A girl dressed all in white." BlackRose replied.

            "Another player character? We haven't seen anyone in here besides us." She blinked.

            "Neither did we. We're not really sure if she's a player character either. In fact we're pretty sure that she's not. Her name is Aura." Kite spoke up.

            "Aura, huh? I can keep a look out for her if you want." Savana smiled.

            "No…it's not that simple. If you did find Aura it wouldn't do any good." The twin blade's gloved hands clenched. "Part of her data went missing-"

            "You mean she was data drained?" she cut in quickly.

            Both looked at her surprised. "How do you know about the data drain?" he asked.

            "A friend of mine was put in the hospital because his character was data drained. I've been looking for anything that might have been responsible for it." She explained.

            "Skeith used data drain." BlackRose spoke up. "But we defeated him. Kite can use it too, but there's no way-"

            "Kite can?!" her amber eyes flashed to the boy in shock.

            "Don't get it in you're head that it was Kite's fault." BlackRose went on sharply. "He's doing the same thing you are because a friend of his is in the hospital. I won't let you think for one second that he was the cause of what you're-"

            "BlackRose…that's enough." He spoke up softly, glancing over at her with a knowing smile, before that gaze changed to Savana. "I know what you're going through. I thought if we beat Skeith we could change things, but we haven't. It seems to be just the beginning. Orca still lays in a coma in the hospital, so my job here isn't finished yet. There's more to this mystery than just the data drain."

            "You said Orca…" the crimson-haired woman replied. "I take it you must mean Lord Orca. If he's you're friend then…at least where he is, he's among his friends. Kite…I promised Tomonari that I would find out what was going on. I want you to take my member address and let me know if you find out anything important, okay?"

            "Will do." He told her, his eyes lighting up. "Well BlackRose, I think we should be going."

            "I agree. The more I think about it, the more this place is rather creepy." The heavyblade shuddered.

            "Me too. Hikaru and Balmung are probably wondering where I've gotten off to. It was nice meeting you all though!" she waved, watching the two players log out.

            "Well, things have certainly taken a twist for the interesting."

            There was the echo of a woman's voice off the walls that made Savana jump. She unsheathed her blade, standing in attack stance. "Who's there? Come out, if you dare!"

            A blonde-headed wavemaster appeared out of the shadows. Her eyes were hidden behind a visor but somehow the blademaster knew her gaze was set on her. Criss-cross white straps covered her breasts and were fitted down her side to meet with her long white skirt. Purple triangles outfitted the sleeves and hem of her unusual white attire.

            "Who are you?" Savana asked, keeping her sword in the direction of the woman in case she was suddenly attacked.

            "A friend maybe….or maybe a foe…an ally or an enemy…that is your decision. Either way I am for guidance. Whether you listen or ignore my words is up to you." She giggled softly. "You really are something, you know that? I haven't seen Lord Balmung get that close to someone since he saved dear little Hikaru. He's beginning to change because of you."

            "Yeah?" She stood straight again, slipping her sword back around her waist, but continue to regard the stranger warily. "How?"

            The wavemaster smiled. "One would be your cat friend, Hirelena. She's a hacker correct?" at the surprised shine in the girl's eyes she continued. "It's a known fact that Balmung will not tolerate hackers on the net. He has been one of the strictest people that I have known about the situation. For a while I was surprised that he didn't join Keita's crusade. He's an arrogant man, but with all the power CC Corp lets him have it is quite understandable. So, why does he seemingly ignore that fact that Hirelena has altered her appearance? Don't you think you are the answer to that problem?" She turned her head, that red visor staring at the stone walls. "That twin blade boy has become something special too. He has power, although it is relatively new power. I am not at all unsure that between your stubbornness and that boy's strength you might be able to do something about the corruption plaguing this world. But-" she glanced back at the girl. "You must remember that this is another world away from our own. Balmung may be someone else outside of this place, but in here he is a knight, a warrior and plays accordingly to the rules he has set for himself. He might be ready to make the biggest sacrifice possible at any time if it means accomplishing his goal. Try not to forget that."

            "Balmung's my friend! I wouldn't let him do something like that!" She yelled out into the room, only to realize that seconds later the woman had left. How had she disappeared without giving notice to the blademaster. Sighing in defeat and over what she had just heard, she pulled sprite ocarina from her inventory and used it to exit the dungeon.

            "Hey there you are. I was wondering where you were." Hikaru smiled as she saw the blademaster walking up the path towards her. "Balmung left for the night. Complained he was getting tired, logged off and went to bed."

            "I was about ready to ask why you were playing with him again. I heard you guys got into a fight."

            "We did." She smiled. "Can you guess over who?"

            "Crim?"

            "Bingo."

            Savana groaned. "Geez… he's as overprotective of you as you are over him."

            "Yeah probably, a little bit." She sheepishly grinned. "Balmung and Crim don't get along very well though as is. It was all because of Subaru."

            "Subaru?" she blinked.

            "Someone from their past. One of Crim's old love interests." She shook her head. "Anyway, how are Kite and BlackRose doing?"

            "Fine, I guess. After they left though, it was weird… I ran into another wavemaster."

            "Was it Elk?"

            "Elk? Who?" the blademaster sighed. "I don't think so. It was a woman. …Hey Hikaru. You don't think Balmung would kill off his character if it meant saving this world, do you?"

            "There is no doubt in my mind that he would do it." She nodded with a smile. "He doesn't act like it, but he loves this place very much. I'm not saying I've ever asked him the question or anything. I just…know how he is. And I know that he had a chance to save the world only to merely hand over his character, he would do it in an instant. But I really don't want to think about sad thoughts right now, okay? Let's go do something fun."

            "Like?" she asked, standing up.

            "I don't know but we'll find something to do. Come on!" grabbing the girl's arm they took off down the path leading back into Dun Lorieag, the mountain city that lit up the sky at night.

-END CHAPTER SIX-