.hack/Polarized/Paradise.Destroyed
by
Chad 'Graeystone' Harger
XXXXX
Unknown and I return to Dun Loireag. From there we go Carmedia Galedia. At that Chaos Gate, Unknown hands me something. In my inventory it reads as 'virus cores'. "What is this?"
"Helba, instructions. Virus cores, Bracelet, use, hack gate," answers Unknown.
Unknown give tells me keywords we need. I enter the keywords and activate the Bracelet. I watch as Chase is caught up in the affect of gate hacking. "This is different" I say to myself as lettering and symbols fly past Chase as he ascends through some kind of white tunnel. The annoying part of my mind kicks in. I expect this to be more of the fictional world at work. But it isn't. My mind is accepting the affect as real. Chase lands in the field on one knee. He stands up and the annoying part of my mind goes back to treating The World as a piece of fiction.
Unknown appears beside me. "Did you see that?" I ask.
"Yes, neat," says Unknown. "No time, hurry."
I put this current mystery out of my mind. Whatever this Net Slum is seems important. We trigger a couple of magic portals but we run past the monsters. Inside the dungeon I follow Unknown. Her directions are strange but as we go a certain way we are teleported closer to the floor's exit. We reach the exit and descend further. The monsters aren't easy by a long shot. Some of them seem a little too strong for this level. It doesn't slow down Unknown though. She takes out the monsters like they're nothing.
Minutes later we reach the bottom of the dungeon. We enter the final room and we are teleported to Net Slum. I gasp as I see the destruction around me. It looks like a tornado hit this place hard. I lower my head and say, "We're too late."
XXXXX
Unknown and I say nothing as we make our way through the ruined Net Slum. I'm glad when my mind starts treating this place as fiction.
"Hello, hello, hello!" says the oddest-looking character I've seen yet. It's an elder male Wavemaster who looks like someone took scissors and cut strips out of him.
"Hello," I say politely.
"Hello, hello, hello!" repeats the Wavemaster.
What is the term for someone who goes online just to be a nuisance? Oh, yeah I remember now. "Must be a troll," I say to Unknown.
Unknown nods and we move on. We see character that are just plain bizarre. None of them look like normal characters. As we pass the weirdness the annoying part of my mind causes a strange reaction to these characters. It can't decide what they are.
We reach the end of the area. A little girl walks out of the shadows. My first thought is Zelphie. She walks closer and I notice it's not her. This girl has a few strands of black hair and her clothes are more like Aura's. She even has a pin with the infinity symbol. "Are you looking for The End?" she asks. "Do you want The End?"
I look at the girl then at Unknown who shrugs. "You, answer."
"Thanks," I mutter. To the girl I say, "It depends on the ending."
The girl frowns. She didn't expect that answer. "It will come none the less," she finally says. She walks past us and continues on her not so merry way. I feel myself go cold while looking at the girl. There is something creepy and dangerous about her.
"Welcome to paradise," says Helba. I look up and see Helba floating down toward us. "Sorry I'm late. Had to make sure the protective barrier around this place is still holding. Kite and a lot of his people will break through soon."
"This dump is normal?" I ask.
"This dump as you so rudely put it is the sanctuary for damaged, incomplete, and lost data," says Helba.
I look around more closely at the characters that live here. No wonder they look like they do. I try to get a read on these characters. As I finally understand the truth I nearly drop my controller. "Helba, these characters are real but are not," I say.
"That is a good analogy," says Helba. "They are unfinished paintings thrown away by the artist."
"You don't understand Helba. There's something about the real me that has always considered fiction for what it is. Something that's made up and isn't real. For example these run down buildings and your character. All I'm registering now is a bunch of pixels. The incomplete data on the other hand, its like they're part real and part fiction."
"If data is given real awareness of their surrounding and the ability to grow it is real. If its limited though, like a NPC shopkeeper, its fictional," says Helba.
"Characters here, real people, sometimes, mental disabilities," says Unknown.
"That is true," says Helba. "The data characters who live here are like real people who have mental illnesses."
"Isn't this like true artificial intelligence?" I ask.
"Indeed it is," says Helba. "The World is much more as it seems as you should know by now."
"I didn't know until now," I say. "With my problem with fiction I'm unable to see The World any deeper than what it is. I don't know much about computers, but why doesn't someone make these incomplete data whole?"
"The Core of The World does want to help these characters," says Helba. "But there is a problem. Chase, if you had the ability to cure real people with mental disabilities with a wave of a hand would you do it?"
"Yes, who wouldn't?" I say.
"Would you be able to heal those people without changing their core personality?" asks Helba.
Translation is that how can I cure people with mental disabilities in such a way without changing them completely. The answer is that I would have no way of knowing without trying it first. The risk would be running the chance of completely changing whatever personality was buried by the illness. "I see your point," I concede.
"That is the crux of the problem even for the Core of the World," says Helba. "The Core changed only one AI here in such a way even though I and others disagreed. Even then it was not a complete cure."
"Girl, earlier. Body, whole," says Unknown.
"So you saw her," says Helba. "The Core is concerned that what was buried could somehow get loose."
"Why didn't the Core just delete her and be done with it?" I ask.
"Could you kill your own mother?" asks Helba.
"I. . .no," I say with a low voice. My body shakes violently. A strong sense of Déjà vu hits me hard. Was I somehow responsible for my parent's death? No! Ridiculous, don't be stupid! I was too young to have a direct hand in their deaths!
The ground shakes and the area rumbles. "Kite has broken through the shield," says Helba. "He'll be here soon. Getting ready for a fight."
An oddity appears in front of us. A character in the form of a humanoid cat stands in front of us. "It appears I have made it in time," she says.
Unknown and I draw our weapons. "Its ok. This is Mia," explains Helba. "Why aren't you with Aura?"
"She insisted I help," says Mia. "You know I can never say no to her."
I lower my daggers. Mia takes hold of my wrist with the Bracelet. "The Bracelet is the only other constant in the World," she says.
"And this world and the real world getting into trouble is the other," says Helba.
I look at Mia. She's even more real than the little girl. "Are you an AI?" I ask.
"Very good. Most people think I'm an illegally edited character," says Mia. A mischievous glint appears in Mia's eyes. "What is artificial? This is The World. Not everything is as it seems."
I start to speak but Unknown interrupts me. "Don't, cat, behavior, typical."
"Where is your erstwhile partner?" Helba asks Mia.
"Elk is watching over Aura and Zelphie," answers Mia.
The weird techno-music stops playing and we ready our weapons. "Ah. . .nuts," I say as Kite appears above us along with almost twenty people. "How big is his army?"
"Its big enough to cause a lot of trouble," says Mia.
I ready my weapons. "Let's give this joker a fight he'll never forget," I say.
"Agreed," says Unknown.
Kite looks down at us. "You, die!" he hisses.
His army comes at us and the battle is joined.
XXXXX
I feel like the weak link. It's apparent everyone else is using a body suit. Their fighting styles show that I'm behind the curve. I'm defending myself and quite poorly. Mia and Unknown are protecting me. This isn't doing anything for my pride or manhood. I do my best to keep them alive. Helba is floating above us. She is engaging Kite. Their attacks are deafening. I turn down the volume so I don't blow my eardrums.
I hear the sound of teleporting. For every player we take down another one appears. There is an explosion above us. I look up and see Helba falling toward us. She's been hit bad. Piotr mentioned all her stats are maxed out. I look at Kite. The arm with the Bracelet is limp. At least Helba nailed him where it counts. When Kite recovers he's going to be very unhappy.
Our biggest concern is that our backs are against the wall and Kite's army is closing in. Unknown sounds exhausted and Mia has a glazed look in her eyes. Helba floats over to us. "This could've gone better," she says with gallows humor.
"We can escape," I say.
"I will not let the programs who reside here be deleted," says Helba.
"There is one way," hisses Mia.
"Don't do it," warns Helba. "If you do that you may not be able to return."
Mia's looks at us like we're mice to be eaten. I figure things couldn't get worse when they do. I see the bodies of Kite's people being tossed into the air followed by a little girl's innocent laughter. It's the little girl from earlier.
Helba manages to float into the air. "That's enough, Morganna!" For once I hear fear in Helba's voice.
Morganna jumps into the air. She laughs and lands on the head of one of Kite's people. Morganna stomps her foot and instantly kills the character. Morganna runs through the crowd and tosses people all over the place. She's laughing like a little girl while doing it.
"Morganna! Destroy her!" yells Kite with fear.
"What do we do?" I ask Helba.
"Data Drain Morganna," orders Helba. "Remember what you said to me at the dance. If Kite absorbs Morganna or vice-versa it's all over."
I mutter a curse and raise my right arm. "Data Drain!"
Morganna skips high into the air toward Kite. The data-altering beams fly at Morganna. She turns her head and smiles that innocent smile. "Ap Do!" she says.
Morganna's body becomes a blur and outraces the beams. The beams reach their limit and disappear. When Morganna stops and to all of our surprise she is hugging Kite. In a panic, Kite tries to push Morganna away from him but can't. Her strength is too much even for him.
A Twin Blade dagger appears in Kite's hand. He raises his hand to stab Morganna with it. Morganna looks up and asks, "Do you want The End? How do you want The End? Will The End be kind to you?"
Kite stops. He nods his head with an understanding that's beyond me. "Yes, The End. I would like that very much," he says. The dagger vanishes and his Bracelet glows.
This time I don't hesitate. I aim as best as I can. I'm about to activate the Bracelet when an enemy Wavemaster jumps at me. Helba and Unknown tackle the Wavemaster. It's a distraction that costs me.
"Max Data Drain," says Kite with glee. Morganna turns her head to us. The last I see of her expression is the innocent little girl smile. The only exception is her eyes. Those are filled with an undeniable hatred and evil.
Kite yells in pain as the whole area shakes. "Net Slum is becoming unstable," says Helba.
"Leave this place," hisses Mia. Her body is pink like flesh. The color in her eyes is gone. "I will handle this."
"Mia," says Helba.
"Can't hold on much longer," growls Mia like a cat. "Tell. . .Elk. . .love. . .him."
"We can't leave her," I say. Helba grabs my hand. "Let go of me!"
"We leave," says Unknown. She takes hold of Helba's other arm.
Helba lifts us into the air. Below us, Kite is fighting whatever Mia has become. I feel my anger rise at the futility of it all. We teleport out and I hear Mia's scream echo throughout the fading Net Slum.
XXXXX
We appear in Mac Anu and I'm too angry for words. Helba says something but I don't listen. Without any warning I logout of The World.
When I know I'm completely out of the game, I twist the controller as hard as I can. I hear the sound of it breaking. I throw it on the floor in frustration. Great, now my aunt is going to kill me but I don't care. If the body suit does what Unknown and the ads say it can do then I'm going to get one. If Kite wants a war then I'll give him one.
To be continued . . .