AN: Yes, I'm back. And all I can say is thank you thank you thank you to all my reviewers! This chapter was a pain to write, especially the battle scene, but knowing that people have gone and read all of this stuff has made me want to finish it. So please enjoy this chapter, and I promise to update more frequently!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the .hack series or My Life as a Teenage Robot. I do own the online personas of Aoshi, Kakera, Rai, Tobira, Taka, Pocky, Jamie, Youkai, and Akumu.
.hackdimensions
Chapter 12: Dungeon 2.0
Aoshi, Kakera, Tobira, Pocky, and Rai soon arrived at strange location through yellow portals. They seemed to be standing on a hill top, and as they looked out, they could see the land before them appeared to be made of lava. The sky was a dark red to match the red steaming ground, and a bright red rock formation could be seen in the distance.
"Is there a reason the ground's on fire?" asked Tobira, staring out.
"Is there a side quest to put it out?" added in Rai.
Aoshi laughed. "Nope, this is just a fire element level. You may have noticed when you pick areas that there is an element next to the level for that area."
"Is every level completely different then?" asked Kakera.
"Nah. The programmers get lazy, so very few areas are different. The dungeon paths tend to be random though, but areas of the same element tend to look similar. There are only a few levels at all that are not like that."
Rai raised his eyebrows. "Special high leveled areas?"
"Not always," replied the blademaster. "I know of one that is supposed to be like a ship, and an incredibly strong dragon monster is there. But then there is also an area with a huge church. No monsters or dungeon there though." Aoshi shrugged. "I've never been to either area though."
"A church..." whispered Kakera. 'Oh! Maybe it's for virtual weddings!' she thought. 'Oh, maybe Aoshi will propose and we can get married and..'
"KAKERA!" yelled Tobira.
"Huh?" The heavy blade shook her head.
"You were getting all googly-eyed and were dancing around."
"Gru gru!" added in Pocky.
"Eh..." Kakera laughed. "I'm just so excited about playing, that's all."
Rai and Aoshi shared a glance for a moment, and then looked back at the others.
"So what's the plan for today anyway?" asked Rai.
"Right," commented Aoshi. "Well, areas in this server tend to be of a higher level than those you all have been on. I decided it would be a good chance for you to go through a dungeon."
"Dungeon!" yelped Tobira. "But aren't there skeletons down there?"
Aoshi shrugged. "Maybe. There are a few types of skeleton monsters."
"No! I don't like skeletons!"
"I thought the only thing Tobira was afraid of were giant wheels," whispered Kakera to Rai.
"Nope," whispered back Rai. "Ever since he saw a skeleton hanging in the science classroom at his school, he's been scared by them. Maybe that's why he never gets very good grades in that class."
Kakera giggled, and looked to the shaking Tobira. "Don't worry Tobira. We're all here to protect you from the skeletons."
"Gru gru!" piped in his little grunty.
"Heehee, I guess Pocky will too."
"Are you gonna let a little grunty be braver than you Tobira?" said Rai.
"Nnn-no," stuttered the little wavemaster. He picked up his grunty and held it close. "Let's just get going already, so I can get this over with." He started walking towards the dungeon entrance quickly.
"Wait up Tobira!" yelled Rai, running to catch up with his little brother. Kakera started after him, but stopped as Aoshi grabbed her hand.
"Kakera...."
"Huh? What is it Aoshi?"
"Are you sure you're okay?" said the blademaster, a worried look on his face.
"I'm fine, don't worry." Kakera smiled weakly. "I'm stronger than you think you know."
Aoshi smiled back. "I know, but can you blame me for worrying? If there was a virus with Taka's attack..."
'Why would he care if there was a virus,' Kakera thought. 'Unless he knows I'm a robot, otherwise he knows it wouldn't affect me, right?'
"After things like Deadly Flash and the Twilight," continued Aoshi, "Well, you never know."
"What is the Twilight and Deadly Flash?" asked the heavy blade.
"You don't know? Well, Deadly Flash was a huge virus, and almost destroyed all the computers in the world. It also killed seven people." Aoshi shook his head. "The Twilight was more recent, and was associated around the World. It put a lot of people in comas. Let's just say, after those viruses, you never know what someone could do through one."
"Are you guys coming?" yelled Rai.
"Just a sec!" called back Aoshi. "Just... just be careful, okay?" Aoshi squeezed Kakera's hand, and then ran after Rai.
"I will Aoshi, I promise," whispered Kakera. She held the hand close to her face, the warmth of Aoshi's touch still there.
"Kakera!"
"Coming!" The heavy blade hurried down the hill towards the large molten mound that was the entrance to the dungeon. Rai, Aoshi, and Tobira were already waiting. Pocky was once again asleep on Tobira's head.
"Let's get going already," said Rai. "We want to get the treasure at the bottom of the dungeon, right?"
"Yeah!" yelled Tobira gleefully. Pocky rolled over on the wavemaster's head, making small "gru" sounds in his sleep.
"Come on then," replied the blademaster, now focusing completely on the game again. He walked into the entrance and disappeared from sight. Tobira ran in after him, but Rai stayed behind.
"Kakera?" he asked.
"Yeah?" replied the confused heavy blade.
Rai started to speak, but then stopped short. "Nevermind. Come on." The twin blade turned and ran in without a second thought.
'What was he going to say?' Kakera wondered. 'Gah, no need to worry about it I guess.' The heavy blade hefted her sword up on her shoulder and ran in. As soon as she entered, Taka jumped down from the top of the dungeon entrance.
"Heh, glad Jamie gave me the tip," she said. "Come on Kakera, it's time to play." The twin blade smiled wickedly, and walked into the entrance.
"This is a lot different from the dungeon I was in with you Aoshi," said Kakera, staring around her.
"There are different types," replied Aoshi. "Just be glad it's a simple one. Only dirt floors and jutted stone walls. At least it's not one of those 'alive' ones."
"A-alive?" whispered Tobira, shivering once more.
"Do we want to know?" asked Rai, shaking his head.
Aoshi grinned. "Nothing really special about those. They just freak newbies out. Anyway, let's just try to get to the bottom of this one before worrying about any of the others."
"But which way do we go?" asked the heavy blade. "There's no map."
"Leave that to me," said Rai. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shining object. He held it up and yelled "Fairy's Orb!" Suddenly, the whole room flashed, and the others covered their eyes so they would not be blinded. Kakera opened her eyes again, but nothing had changed.
"What did you do?" she asked her red haired friend.
"Just check your map. Now the entire dungeon path for this floor will be shown." Sure enough, Rai was right. There seemed to be a lot of twists and turns leading to dead ends, but Kakera could see the stairs leading to the next floor.
"Let's go then!" said Aoshi, and they headed off.
It had been some time later before they reached the final level, the fifth floor. Rai had used a fairy's orb on every level so far, so they had been able to find their way to the next level easily, not to mention find the monsters and treasure chests. They had hit almost all of the monsters, and the three newbs had gained a few levels each. Even Tobira, who, frightened of the skeletons, sent out wave after wave of lightning spells, not to mention healing spells to all of them. Aoshi had mostly sat back and watched them, grinning the entire time.
Now it seemed that they had finally reached the end. Kakera noticed that this level had no stairs except the ones they had just come down from, and in fact, this level had only three rooms consisting of a long hallway and two separate ones. One had a blue marking for a treasure chest, the other held... nothing?
"That's weird," said Rai, peering at the sky. "Why would this level have a room with nothing in it?"
"To confuse people?" piped in Tobira, holding Pocky close to him as he spoke.
"I don't think so," said Aoshi. "May just be the program being messed up. Want to check it out."
"Why not?" said Rai. He looked to Kakera. "You in?" he asked.
Kakera simply shrugged. "Why not?" she said. "Besides, we can always come back and get the treasure, right?"
"That's the spirit!" said Rai. "You have to be an adventurer to play this game, and that's what we're going to be."
"Gru gru!" said Pocky, and ran to the room.
"Pocky! Wait!" yelled Tobira, and ran after the little grunty.
"Let's go," said Aoshi, and the rest of the group followed.
They were also followed by someone unbeknownst to them.
"Time to take the bitch down," whispered Taka, taking off after them. "I may love Aoshi too, but that doesn't mean I won't use my abilities to keep him out of the way."
The group stepped into the empty room. It looked simple, like every other room in the dungeon. That is, except for the yellow portal with data streams in the middle of the room.
"What? Why are there all those numbers on it?" said Rai, startled.
"Something is wrong," whispered Aoshi. He took a step forward, but stopped suddenly as he heard a sound from behind him. The blademaster turned quickly, and cried out, "You!"
Taka smiled as she stepped into the room. Everyone stared at her, except for Tobira who was simply confused.
"Uh who's that?" said the little wavemaster as he pointed to Taka.
"Get back Tobira," cried Kakera as she pulled back the wavemaster. "That's the girl who killed me yesterday."
"Oh, kill is such a harsh word," laughed Taka. "I prefer 'eliminated' or 'taken care of'. But that seems to not be the case. So how much longer before you tire of running and you leave this game once and for all?" With a flick of her wrists, Taka's twin blades came out of her sleeves and she twirled them momentarily in the air. "Now then, let's make this short, shall we?"
"You're not taking her out that easily," said Rai, as his own blades flicked out of his sleeves. Kakera drew her own weapon in defense, and Tobira held his staff in front of him defensively, still confused.
"Wait! Don't!" yelled Aoshi, but it was too late. By drawing their weapons, they had activated the portal behind them. It was spinning faster and faster, and a monster was appearing in its place. The whole group turned and stared, even Taka who was unused to this strange sight.
The monster appeared to be some sort of crossover of a lion and a bird. It had a lion's head and back legs, paws, and tail, but its front legs were like talons of a great bird and huge red feathered wings sprung from his back. The coloring was strange; the feathers were all blood red, while the fur and mane of the creature was blue. At least, this is as close as Kakera could have described it. Spots of the strange data numbers were all over it, just like...
"Just like the monster from before..." whispered Kakera.
"What are you talking about," said Rai, stepping back away from it.
"When Aoshi and I went in that dungeon there was this strange monster. It had data streams all over it, and we couldn't get out of the dungeon. If we hadn't have beaten it, I don't know what could have happened."
"That explains it," muttered Taka to herself. "That's why Jamie couldn't get in."
"Quit talking! Let's get out of here!" yelled Tobira as he ran towards the entrance at a tremendous speed. Pocky gripped onto the wavemaster's hat so he wouldn't fall off. Tobira ran straight into the entrance, and fell to the floor.
"No, the entrance is stuck!" he yelled.
"Then we have to fight," said Aoshi. He glanced over to Kakera and Rai, who nodded. Then he took a cold glance at Taka. "Only a fool would focus on a single enemy simply vengeance when a greater one lies before them. If you have any sense of honor, or any hope of living past this day, then either stay out of our way or help us defeat this creature."
Taka glared at him. "Fine, a truce then until this is defeated. After that, the bitch is mine." She made a face of disgust at Kakera, and then hurried towards the monster who had just noticed the players in the room.
The monster roared and charged towards the group. "Split up!" yelled Aoshi, but this command was unneeded. Kakera took the left side, Rai the right, Taka was coming from the back, Aoshi the front, and Tobira... Well, Tobira was running as far away as he could from the monster, clutching Pocky tight as he ran.
Aside from Tobira, the others were closing in on the beast. The monster didn't seem to be threatened by the four people coming towards it. As Taka reached it first, the monster moved its massive tail and knocked Taka into the wall opposite. Using its paws, it did the same against Rai, Kakera, and Aoshi. As the players hit the wall, they were hurt slightly, but not as bad as Aoshi expected.
"Not too strong," said the blademaster, getting to his feet. "But that wasn't one of its main attacks. Huh?" Aoshi paused and saw the creature chasing after Tobira and Pocky.
"Oh no! Bro!" yelled Rai, but he wasn't the first to react. Kakera raced towards the beast, a look of determination on her face. The monster had chased Tobira into a corner of the room, and the wavemaster was at that moment huddled up with Pocky, his sword in front of his face for defense. The monster raised its front talons to slice at the pair, when Kakera's blade hit.
"Hi-ya!" yelled the heavy blade as her sword cut. The monster roared in pain, and stopped its attack on Tobira. It turned around to look at the blade master. Kakera didn't back down however. 'If Aoshi is determined to save the World,' she thought, 'Then I can be determined enough to help.' Kakera started to strike again, when the monster decided to take some retaliation of its own. It lifted back its head and let out a flame on Kakera.
Kakera held up her sword in defense, but the attack was very strong. She felt her HP going, when suddenly the attack stopped.
"There!" yelled Tobira as a bolt of lightning hit the monster. "Don't hurt them you big weenie!" Tobira's staff was high in the air, and Pocky was on his head, gruing in anticipation.
"Way to go Tobira!" yelled Rai as he and Taka came in for another attack. Aoshi held back however, and ran over to Kakera who was now hunched over on the floor.
"Are you okay?" he asked hurriedly. Kakera nodded, although she knew that her HP was weak.
"I'll stay and help you, okay?" said Aoshi. "Tobira isn't close enough to heal you, and I'm all out of healing items."
"Don't worry about it," said Kakera quickly. "Just watch out!" Aoshi grabbed Kakera and jumped forward, just before the monster's claw came down on the spot they were just occupying. Aoshi let Kakera down gently, and then stood before the monster with his sword.
"Taka! Rai! You two get it while I distract it!" The blademaster went in for the attack, Kakera sitting nearby, too weak to move now.
Meanwhile, Taka and Rai were coming up from the back towards the monster. Taka stopped and touched Rai.
"You get Tobira and let him know I'm gonna need his bolt attack in a minute," she said quickly.
"How can I trust that you'll go fight the monster and not go hurt Kakera?" asked Rai indignantly.
"Because I'm not stupid enough to risk myself or Aoshi getting killed. Just wait for my signal and have him attack where my blade is." With that, Taka ran towards the side of the monster.
"Hurry up!" Aoshi yelled while still fighting the beast. It was so focused on fighting Aoshi that it didn't notice Taka as she jumped up into the air and threw one of her blades into the creature's left eye.
"Now Tobira!" commanded Taka as she landed on the ground. The monster roared in pain as Tobira's bolt came down onto the beast's eyes, blinding it.
"Rai, Aoshi!" Kakera called. "Use special attacks! It should break its data!" The twin blade and blademaster ran and used their own attacks on the monster.
"Nightmare Banisher!" yelled Aoshi as he sliced the side.
"Twin Flame!" yelled Rai as his blades lit up with fire and slid through the other side. The monster roared as the attacks hit, causing its data to go haywire. Suddenly, its data broke apart and it was gone.
"Yes!" screamed Rai and Tobira, as they danced around with Pocky. The level ups were already appearing over all of their heads, and for the newbies, it was quite a bit.
"Thank god," whispered Aoshi, staring at where the monster had once been. "Hopefully that's the last of them. Wait, Kakera!" The blademaster turned, but was too late.
Kakera still lay on the ground, but now was held tight by Taka with a blade to her throat.
"Taka..." whispered Aoshi scornfully.
"Think I'd waste a moment Aoshi?" said Taka slyly. "I believe that the monster is defeated and the door is unlocked. That means our truce is over, right?" She grinned evilly and put the blade closer to the heavy blade's throat.
"Aoshi..." whispered Kakera, fear in her voice and her eyes. Rai and Tobira stared, not knowing what to do, but Aoshi held his sword at his side, and spoke calmly.
"Leave her be Taka, or you'll have to deal with me next."
"I don't think so Aoshi. You may be the love of my and all the rest of the fan girl's lives, but I can't break the mistresses word. Sorry!" With that, Taka sliced Kakera and had a sprite ocarina in her hand in a heartbeat.
"Ta-ta," she laughed as she disappeared from sight, leaving the now stone grey form of Kakera and the others in the room.
Aoshi dropped his weapon and ran over to Kakera, but the body was already disappearing, in a moment, it was gone.
"Will she be okay Rai?" he asked, staring at the ground before him. Rai thought a moment before answering.
"She's tough. I'm sure she should be fine, just like last time."
"God, I hope you're right."