AN: This is just a transition chapter in my opinion, so I hope you enjoy it even if it's not as interesting as the other ones. I still haven't decided how big I want to make the virus thing, although it will play a huge role later in the story. But as for Aura, well, we'll see where it goes. Anyway read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from My Life as a Teenage Robot or .hack. I do own the online personas that I have created. (I'm tired of listing them, so on with the story!)
.hackdimensions
Chapter 9: Tension
"Aoshi..." whispered the teenage robot in a dreamy sigh as she flew towards school. "I don't understand you, yet I want to know you so much. Aoshi..."
Jenny had been up late the night before, thinking about what the blademaster had said. Did she love Aoshi because of his looks, or was it his personality? 'I love him for all that he is,' she thought. 'But what is he like in the real world? Is he completely different? If I meet him here, will I still feel the same?' She shook her head and began her descent as the school came into sight. "I don't have time to worry bout this now. I have to talk to him tonight, and think about it once I get to know him better."
She landed gracefully on the lawn of the school, her rockets letting out a bit of smoke as they slowed. They quickly disappeared as Jenny fixed her hair.
"I better tell Brad about all this first," she said to herself. "Now where is he?" The robot looked around, but she saw no sign of her red haired companion. The groups of people talking seemed even greater than the day before, and Jenny did not have to guess what they were discussing.
"I just got a grunty!" said a short girl in a group nearby. "It's really cute, and it calls me Mommy!"
"I found this awesome area," said a boy to Jenny's left. "It has tons of goblin monsters, and they all drop this weird armor."
Jenny giggled to herself as she walked past them. 'That all may be neat,' she thought. 'But none of that can compare to fighting with Aoshi.'
The teenage robot kept walking towards the building, keeping an eye out for Brad. "Maybe he's sick," she said to herself. "Or maybe... Ah!" Jenny tripped across someone as she was looking in the other direction. "Ouch," she muttered rubbing her head. 'Who walked into me?' she wondered.
"Oh, sorry Jenny," said Sheldon as he got to his feet. He put out a hand for the teenage robot. "I guess I wasn't watching where I was going."
'Thank god it was only Sheldon,' she thought. "My fault probably," Jenny replied. "I was looking around for Brad."
"Oh, I saw him inside. He was sneezing a lot; I think he has a cold."
"That would make sense for him not being outside then. It's allergy season, right?"
"Yeah, that makes sense." Sheldon shrugged. "So, are you en...."
"Sheldon, I got to go," said Jenny cutting him off. 'I really don't want to get caught in a conversation with him right now.' "Seeya!" She ran off towards the door of the school.
"Uh, ok," replied Sheldon. Jenny didn't seem to notice his words and ran inside.
The halls of the school were as crowded as usual, students stopping at their lockers and standing about to chat. Jenny noticed that there were twice as many posters for "The World" up than there were yesterday. Jenny ignored them and ran up to her locker, and spotted Brad waiting right by it.
"Hey Brad. You okay?'
"Yeah, I'm fi-" Brad stopped as he began to sneeze. "Ah-ah- ahchoo!"
"God bless you," said Jenny. "Allergies bad?"
"Yeah, I should have taken some medicine earlier." Suddenly the bell rang and the conversation had to end.
"Jenny," said Brad. "I'll see you in "The World" later. You gotta let me know what happened last night!"
"Alright," she replied. "I'll see you later!" She opened her locker to grab her books, then ran off towards homeroom.
Elsewhere....
"So the plan is all set for tonight?" said Tiff, standing near the bushes outside of the school.
"Yes," replied Britt. "Our player killer will take care of Kakera, and then report back to us. The virus will hardly be noticed, and she can continue to do this for a few days until..."
"Until the bitch is gone and Aoshi is ours." The girls cackled, then walked back into the building.
"So that's the plan," said a voice from the bushes. "I have to warn Kakera. I won't lose her that easily."
"Take that!" yelled Jenny, as she sliced the robotic ant with her chainsaw arms. Its head was sliced cleanly off and began rolling down the street. The rest of its body fell to the ground with a thud. Jenny changed her hands back to normal, and clapped them together.
"Thank goodness that's over," the teenage robot said to herself. "That thing was just a nuisance, especially since it's taking away from my online time." With that, Jenny jumped up and had her hair transform into rocket boosters. She started towards home and thought to herself.
'Jeez, I used to care more about taking care of problems in the city, but now... With this game, I have to start getting my priorities straight. I just hope another emergency doesn't pop up while I'm playing it. But if it's only a little threat, I'm sure that it can wait. I don't want to give up more of the game then I have to.'
Jenny landed cleanly in front of her house, and then ran in through the door. Mrs. Winkman was busy going through a box of gadgets and gizmos in the front room, and didn't have time to look up as Jenny ran in.
"HimomschoolwasgreatIbeatupagiantantwellI'mgonnagoplaythisgamenowsoI'llseeyoulater," said the teenage robot in a single breath as she ran in and up the stairs.
"Wait a minute XJ-9!" yelled Mrs. Winkman as she turned away from the box, but Jenny had already ran up into her room and shut the door.
"Oh, I can't wait to talk to you tonight Aoshi!" squealed Jenny in her room as she sat down and reached for her head set.
"Just a moment XJ-9!" interrupted Mrs. Winkman as she opened the door. Jenny froze and turned to glare at her mother and creator.
"What is it Mom?" she asked disdainfully.
"I think you are becoming a bit too obsessive with this 'game'".
"Excuse me?" Jenny put down the headset. "What are you talking about? I'm not being obsessive!"
"Dealing with three emergencies today and not cleaning up the mess is unlike you XJ-9. Witnesses reported you came, did your job as quickly as possible, then left without a second glance, mumbling about this 'cutting into your online time.'"
"Well, I want to have a life outside just saving the world!" Jenny said defensively. "Besides, it's not like you don't become obsessive with your projects all the time."
Mrs. Wakeman raised her eyebrows and responded. "I have my priorities straight at least. My inventions are good for all of mankind, while your game is good for whom? No one!"
"They're good for me! I help people all the time, so why can't I have some time just to relax and entertain myself? Is that a crime?"
The scientist sighed and shook her head. "Still, I think that you are getting far too involved in this game young lady."
"But..."
"No buts young lady. You can play for two hours tonight, no more than that. And if you continue to act in this manner, I will lower the time to one hour or none. Now then, go play your game, but then don't worry or obsess about it anymore. It is only a game for Pete's sake." With that, Mrs. Wakeman turned around, walked out of the room, and closed the door behind her.
"It's not just a game," muttered Jenny. "It's more then you can ever know, if only for Aoshi." She turned and turned on her console. She placed on her headset, to go into the world of her dreams, where even her mother couldn't touch her.
"Yo, Kakera!" called Rai as the heavy blade arrived in The World.
"Hey Rai!" replied Kakera, running over to join the twin blade in a building near the chaos gate. The green haired twin blade was happy to see his friend, and for once in the game, was alone.
"Where is Tuck, I mean, Tobira anyway?" asked Kakera.
"He still had some homework to finish. His class has a group project on extinct animals. His group chose the common pigeon." Rai stuck his tongue out in disgust.
"Uh, what's a pigeon?"
"Well...." Rai began acting like a college professor as he spoke. "The pigeon has been known by many names, most often though as a 'rat with wings'. Until a few years ago, they were quite common throughout big cities. They were considered more of a pain then anything else though, because all they did was fly around and poop on cars. So the government tried to keep the population of this bird down by releasing lizards that ate the bird in large numbers. The lizards worked too well though and decimated the population of pigeons. They never recovered and died out."
"But then weren't cities overrun by lizards?"
"Nope. Without the pigeons, they died out as well. They're still around in some areas though." The twin blade shrugged, ending his lecture.
Kakera raised her eyebrows at her friend. "Why do you know all that anyway?"
"Tuck needed some help, so I did some of the research, and the writing, and the poster." He sighed. "He still has a lot to do though."
"That's nice that you helped out at least."
"Yeah, well, the kid owes me. I don't think he'll be able to get on tonight anyway. But he probably will tomorrow, seeing how it'll be Friday."
"I didn't realize it's going to be the weekend already," said Kakera, surprised. "Well just more time to play the game." Kakera grinned at the thought of all the time she would be able to spend with Aoshi.
"I don't think you'll have time to spend the entire weekend in the game Kakera," replied Rai. "Not only are there other things to do besides this, but won't you have to save the day and stuff?"
"Oh, yeah..."
"Don't worry about it Kakera. Just play it by ear."
"Yeah, okay..." The heavy blade sighed. She'd been so sucked up in the game lately that she was beginning to forget about the real world. 'Rai is right though,' she thought. 'I can just play it by ear.'
"Anyway, do you want to go to an area?" asked Rai. "We can train and stuff. Besides, I didn't get to talk to you today, so you gotta tell me all about what you did with Aoshi last night."
"Aoshi!" yelped Kakera. "Wait, is he on?"
"Uh, no. I already tried to send him an invite, but he's not on yet. He'll catch up with us later."
"Oh, ok," said Kakera, disappointed.
Rai raised his eyebrows at his friend. "Jenny, remember that you don't know who he is. I know you have a crush on him or something, but..."
"How did you know that I like him?"
The twin blade sighed. "Let's see: In class whenever I looked back at you, you were staring into space dreamily, saying 'Aoshi' ever now and then; you yelped when I mentioned him a moment ago; you seem to be spacing out more and more lately..."
"Ok, ok, I admit it." She sighed. "I have a crush on him."
Rai smirked. "If I were you, keep it to only a crush until you know more about him. Now come on, I found a nice area for us. You can tell me about last night when we're there." Rai took Kakera's hand, and the walked into the chaos gate. They disappeared in yellow portals, just another party in the World. Taka watched them from a corner of the square of surrounding the chaos gate. She grinned in the shadows.
"I'll give you a little time to squirm Kakera, then you're mine."
"And that's what happened." Kakera leaned against the brown stone building that led into the dungeon in the area they were in. The orange sky matched the mood of the desert surrounding them. The heavy blade had told her friend everything, everything but the kiss that is...
"That monster," muttered Rai. "Why would that be in that area?"
"I don't know," replied Kakera. "Aoshi mentioned that it was like something that had happened a few years ago."
"Did you report it to the system administrator?"
"No, do you think I should?"
Rai shrugged. "You might as well. That way they can at least look into it. I mean, if it can knock humans into comas, who knows what it could have done to you?"
Kakera nodded. "I know, but I'm sure if anything did happen Mom could fix me."
"Still Kakera, if I were in your position I would be more worried."
"You seem to be worried about a lot of things lately Rai."
The twin blade sighed. "I don't know why really. It's just..."
Rai was interrupted by the sound of someone coming into the area through a portal. They looked around to see where the player who had come in was, but they couldn't see anyone in the area.
"What the..." whispered Rai.
"Peek-a-boo!" yelled a voice from above them. Rai and Kakera looked up to see a twin blade dressed in yellow. "Kakera I presume?" she said, looking down at them.
"Y-Yes," replied the heavy blade. "Who are you?"
The yellow twin blade smiled. "I'm Taka, but you can call me your worst nightmare." Taka jumped down to look at the two of them. "So this is the one Aoshi chose. Humph, he must not realize what he's missing out on. With people like me out there, I don't understand why he'd settle for some dumb broad like you."
"Hey, who you calling dumb!" yelled Kakera.
"Aw, did I strike a nerve there?" replied Taka innocently.
"Listen here you," said Rai. "Leave Kakera alone. She never did anything to you."
"Oh, you're wrong there little man. See, this girl has done enough to not only me, but to over 3000 girls in the World. And if you would please excuse me, I have some work to do." Taka jumped up in a back flip, then threw something at the unsuspecting Rai. Electricity ran through his body, and he crumpled to the ground. Electricity buzzed every few seconds through his body.
"What did you do?" yelled Rai in pain.
"Why it's just a paralyzing bomb. It's one of a kind, so you won't be able to move until someone uses the right antidote on you. And since that's my own creation, I'm the only one with the antidote."
"You...' whispered Kakera, enraged.
"Don't worry girl. I won't touch him for now. My attention is all on you." Taka flicked out her blades, which were hiding beneath her fabric sleeves. "Time for us to dance."
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from My Life as a Teenage Robot or .hack. I do own the online personas that I have created. (I'm tired of listing them, so on with the story!)
.hackdimensions
Chapter 9: Tension
"Aoshi..." whispered the teenage robot in a dreamy sigh as she flew towards school. "I don't understand you, yet I want to know you so much. Aoshi..."
Jenny had been up late the night before, thinking about what the blademaster had said. Did she love Aoshi because of his looks, or was it his personality? 'I love him for all that he is,' she thought. 'But what is he like in the real world? Is he completely different? If I meet him here, will I still feel the same?' She shook her head and began her descent as the school came into sight. "I don't have time to worry bout this now. I have to talk to him tonight, and think about it once I get to know him better."
She landed gracefully on the lawn of the school, her rockets letting out a bit of smoke as they slowed. They quickly disappeared as Jenny fixed her hair.
"I better tell Brad about all this first," she said to herself. "Now where is he?" The robot looked around, but she saw no sign of her red haired companion. The groups of people talking seemed even greater than the day before, and Jenny did not have to guess what they were discussing.
"I just got a grunty!" said a short girl in a group nearby. "It's really cute, and it calls me Mommy!"
"I found this awesome area," said a boy to Jenny's left. "It has tons of goblin monsters, and they all drop this weird armor."
Jenny giggled to herself as she walked past them. 'That all may be neat,' she thought. 'But none of that can compare to fighting with Aoshi.'
The teenage robot kept walking towards the building, keeping an eye out for Brad. "Maybe he's sick," she said to herself. "Or maybe... Ah!" Jenny tripped across someone as she was looking in the other direction. "Ouch," she muttered rubbing her head. 'Who walked into me?' she wondered.
"Oh, sorry Jenny," said Sheldon as he got to his feet. He put out a hand for the teenage robot. "I guess I wasn't watching where I was going."
'Thank god it was only Sheldon,' she thought. "My fault probably," Jenny replied. "I was looking around for Brad."
"Oh, I saw him inside. He was sneezing a lot; I think he has a cold."
"That would make sense for him not being outside then. It's allergy season, right?"
"Yeah, that makes sense." Sheldon shrugged. "So, are you en...."
"Sheldon, I got to go," said Jenny cutting him off. 'I really don't want to get caught in a conversation with him right now.' "Seeya!" She ran off towards the door of the school.
"Uh, ok," replied Sheldon. Jenny didn't seem to notice his words and ran inside.
The halls of the school were as crowded as usual, students stopping at their lockers and standing about to chat. Jenny noticed that there were twice as many posters for "The World" up than there were yesterday. Jenny ignored them and ran up to her locker, and spotted Brad waiting right by it.
"Hey Brad. You okay?'
"Yeah, I'm fi-" Brad stopped as he began to sneeze. "Ah-ah- ahchoo!"
"God bless you," said Jenny. "Allergies bad?"
"Yeah, I should have taken some medicine earlier." Suddenly the bell rang and the conversation had to end.
"Jenny," said Brad. "I'll see you in "The World" later. You gotta let me know what happened last night!"
"Alright," she replied. "I'll see you later!" She opened her locker to grab her books, then ran off towards homeroom.
Elsewhere....
"So the plan is all set for tonight?" said Tiff, standing near the bushes outside of the school.
"Yes," replied Britt. "Our player killer will take care of Kakera, and then report back to us. The virus will hardly be noticed, and she can continue to do this for a few days until..."
"Until the bitch is gone and Aoshi is ours." The girls cackled, then walked back into the building.
"So that's the plan," said a voice from the bushes. "I have to warn Kakera. I won't lose her that easily."
"Take that!" yelled Jenny, as she sliced the robotic ant with her chainsaw arms. Its head was sliced cleanly off and began rolling down the street. The rest of its body fell to the ground with a thud. Jenny changed her hands back to normal, and clapped them together.
"Thank goodness that's over," the teenage robot said to herself. "That thing was just a nuisance, especially since it's taking away from my online time." With that, Jenny jumped up and had her hair transform into rocket boosters. She started towards home and thought to herself.
'Jeez, I used to care more about taking care of problems in the city, but now... With this game, I have to start getting my priorities straight. I just hope another emergency doesn't pop up while I'm playing it. But if it's only a little threat, I'm sure that it can wait. I don't want to give up more of the game then I have to.'
Jenny landed cleanly in front of her house, and then ran in through the door. Mrs. Winkman was busy going through a box of gadgets and gizmos in the front room, and didn't have time to look up as Jenny ran in.
"HimomschoolwasgreatIbeatupagiantantwellI'mgonnagoplaythisgamenowsoI'llseeyoulater," said the teenage robot in a single breath as she ran in and up the stairs.
"Wait a minute XJ-9!" yelled Mrs. Winkman as she turned away from the box, but Jenny had already ran up into her room and shut the door.
"Oh, I can't wait to talk to you tonight Aoshi!" squealed Jenny in her room as she sat down and reached for her head set.
"Just a moment XJ-9!" interrupted Mrs. Winkman as she opened the door. Jenny froze and turned to glare at her mother and creator.
"What is it Mom?" she asked disdainfully.
"I think you are becoming a bit too obsessive with this 'game'".
"Excuse me?" Jenny put down the headset. "What are you talking about? I'm not being obsessive!"
"Dealing with three emergencies today and not cleaning up the mess is unlike you XJ-9. Witnesses reported you came, did your job as quickly as possible, then left without a second glance, mumbling about this 'cutting into your online time.'"
"Well, I want to have a life outside just saving the world!" Jenny said defensively. "Besides, it's not like you don't become obsessive with your projects all the time."
Mrs. Wakeman raised her eyebrows and responded. "I have my priorities straight at least. My inventions are good for all of mankind, while your game is good for whom? No one!"
"They're good for me! I help people all the time, so why can't I have some time just to relax and entertain myself? Is that a crime?"
The scientist sighed and shook her head. "Still, I think that you are getting far too involved in this game young lady."
"But..."
"No buts young lady. You can play for two hours tonight, no more than that. And if you continue to act in this manner, I will lower the time to one hour or none. Now then, go play your game, but then don't worry or obsess about it anymore. It is only a game for Pete's sake." With that, Mrs. Wakeman turned around, walked out of the room, and closed the door behind her.
"It's not just a game," muttered Jenny. "It's more then you can ever know, if only for Aoshi." She turned and turned on her console. She placed on her headset, to go into the world of her dreams, where even her mother couldn't touch her.
"Yo, Kakera!" called Rai as the heavy blade arrived in The World.
"Hey Rai!" replied Kakera, running over to join the twin blade in a building near the chaos gate. The green haired twin blade was happy to see his friend, and for once in the game, was alone.
"Where is Tuck, I mean, Tobira anyway?" asked Kakera.
"He still had some homework to finish. His class has a group project on extinct animals. His group chose the common pigeon." Rai stuck his tongue out in disgust.
"Uh, what's a pigeon?"
"Well...." Rai began acting like a college professor as he spoke. "The pigeon has been known by many names, most often though as a 'rat with wings'. Until a few years ago, they were quite common throughout big cities. They were considered more of a pain then anything else though, because all they did was fly around and poop on cars. So the government tried to keep the population of this bird down by releasing lizards that ate the bird in large numbers. The lizards worked too well though and decimated the population of pigeons. They never recovered and died out."
"But then weren't cities overrun by lizards?"
"Nope. Without the pigeons, they died out as well. They're still around in some areas though." The twin blade shrugged, ending his lecture.
Kakera raised her eyebrows at her friend. "Why do you know all that anyway?"
"Tuck needed some help, so I did some of the research, and the writing, and the poster." He sighed. "He still has a lot to do though."
"That's nice that you helped out at least."
"Yeah, well, the kid owes me. I don't think he'll be able to get on tonight anyway. But he probably will tomorrow, seeing how it'll be Friday."
"I didn't realize it's going to be the weekend already," said Kakera, surprised. "Well just more time to play the game." Kakera grinned at the thought of all the time she would be able to spend with Aoshi.
"I don't think you'll have time to spend the entire weekend in the game Kakera," replied Rai. "Not only are there other things to do besides this, but won't you have to save the day and stuff?"
"Oh, yeah..."
"Don't worry about it Kakera. Just play it by ear."
"Yeah, okay..." The heavy blade sighed. She'd been so sucked up in the game lately that she was beginning to forget about the real world. 'Rai is right though,' she thought. 'I can just play it by ear.'
"Anyway, do you want to go to an area?" asked Rai. "We can train and stuff. Besides, I didn't get to talk to you today, so you gotta tell me all about what you did with Aoshi last night."
"Aoshi!" yelped Kakera. "Wait, is he on?"
"Uh, no. I already tried to send him an invite, but he's not on yet. He'll catch up with us later."
"Oh, ok," said Kakera, disappointed.
Rai raised his eyebrows at his friend. "Jenny, remember that you don't know who he is. I know you have a crush on him or something, but..."
"How did you know that I like him?"
The twin blade sighed. "Let's see: In class whenever I looked back at you, you were staring into space dreamily, saying 'Aoshi' ever now and then; you yelped when I mentioned him a moment ago; you seem to be spacing out more and more lately..."
"Ok, ok, I admit it." She sighed. "I have a crush on him."
Rai smirked. "If I were you, keep it to only a crush until you know more about him. Now come on, I found a nice area for us. You can tell me about last night when we're there." Rai took Kakera's hand, and the walked into the chaos gate. They disappeared in yellow portals, just another party in the World. Taka watched them from a corner of the square of surrounding the chaos gate. She grinned in the shadows.
"I'll give you a little time to squirm Kakera, then you're mine."
"And that's what happened." Kakera leaned against the brown stone building that led into the dungeon in the area they were in. The orange sky matched the mood of the desert surrounding them. The heavy blade had told her friend everything, everything but the kiss that is...
"That monster," muttered Rai. "Why would that be in that area?"
"I don't know," replied Kakera. "Aoshi mentioned that it was like something that had happened a few years ago."
"Did you report it to the system administrator?"
"No, do you think I should?"
Rai shrugged. "You might as well. That way they can at least look into it. I mean, if it can knock humans into comas, who knows what it could have done to you?"
Kakera nodded. "I know, but I'm sure if anything did happen Mom could fix me."
"Still Kakera, if I were in your position I would be more worried."
"You seem to be worried about a lot of things lately Rai."
The twin blade sighed. "I don't know why really. It's just..."
Rai was interrupted by the sound of someone coming into the area through a portal. They looked around to see where the player who had come in was, but they couldn't see anyone in the area.
"What the..." whispered Rai.
"Peek-a-boo!" yelled a voice from above them. Rai and Kakera looked up to see a twin blade dressed in yellow. "Kakera I presume?" she said, looking down at them.
"Y-Yes," replied the heavy blade. "Who are you?"
The yellow twin blade smiled. "I'm Taka, but you can call me your worst nightmare." Taka jumped down to look at the two of them. "So this is the one Aoshi chose. Humph, he must not realize what he's missing out on. With people like me out there, I don't understand why he'd settle for some dumb broad like you."
"Hey, who you calling dumb!" yelled Kakera.
"Aw, did I strike a nerve there?" replied Taka innocently.
"Listen here you," said Rai. "Leave Kakera alone. She never did anything to you."
"Oh, you're wrong there little man. See, this girl has done enough to not only me, but to over 3000 girls in the World. And if you would please excuse me, I have some work to do." Taka jumped up in a back flip, then threw something at the unsuspecting Rai. Electricity ran through his body, and he crumpled to the ground. Electricity buzzed every few seconds through his body.
"What did you do?" yelled Rai in pain.
"Why it's just a paralyzing bomb. It's one of a kind, so you won't be able to move until someone uses the right antidote on you. And since that's my own creation, I'm the only one with the antidote."
"You...' whispered Kakera, enraged.
"Don't worry girl. I won't touch him for now. My attention is all on you." Taka flicked out her blades, which were hiding beneath her fabric sleeves. "Time for us to dance."