.HACKEVA
Author's Notes: I know, I know… I take forever to write these things, and they are tweeny little chapters, too. And just to clear up a misconception; yes, there ARE ranged weapons in .Hacksign. I've seen a couple of guys with bows in the series. Like when that Sora guy and the Silver knight dude kill a couple of blokes when they are up against one of those unkillable monsters, one of them has a bow.
And as for the items, well, how many RPGs have you played that DOESN'T have piles of weird items? None, I'll bet.
CHAPTER FOUR: HACKER'S SECRET
A branch waved in the breeze ominously.
In the middle of a small clearing, surrounded by dark trees, three figures stood around the broken remains of what appeared to be a bed, long since discarded. The three people, two men and a woman, huddled in close, speaking in harsh whispers, even though they were the only ones that possibly even had access to the field, let alone be present. Their whispering got louder, their anger clearly being felt by each other. Soon they were shouting, yelling words at each other. However, their words were of a language known only to them, created for this very meeting. The next day, any trace of the coding program would cease to exist, self-deleting itself and any records that it ever existed.
The woman yelled something, her eyes ablaze beneath her hood. The two men quietened instantly, then listened silently as she spoke for a few minutes. With a cold glare, she disappeared, warping back into a field better known. One of the men looked at the other, and spoke without the coding program.
"Azrael, can it be true?"
The older man regarded his younger accomplice's question carefully. At length, he replied "I… cannot be sure. Even if it did exist, we still don't have the faintest clue where to look for the pieces."
The younger man's lips pursed together in annoyance. It was very difficult to get a straight answer out of Azrael, and he was running out of patience for the old hacker. He would hang around long enough to get the information he wanted, then leave Azrael at the mercy of the system administrators, who would get an 'anonymous' tip about his hacking.
"Yes or no, Azrael. Does it exist, or not?"
The old fighter sighed. "Yes, it exists. Although where the pieces are, or how to activate them are…" He was cut off as the younger man teleported away. He growled.
"That little bastard had better not do what I think he is…"
Full of anger, Azrael decided to lie low for a while, before he looked for the pieces of the artefact that they were searching for. With that, he too teleported away, leaving only the rustle of the leaves in the wind.
"MISTER Ikari, do you have a good reason why this assignment was not handed in?"
Shinji looked at his feet. He was sitting in the school principal's office, all because of an assignment he hadn't handed in.
"Well, um, no sir." He replied meekly. He had a reason, of course, but the ex-pilot didn't thin kit was a good one. He had been caught up in playing 'the world', and had clean forgotten to do it. He continued to examine his shoes for lint as the aging man gave him a stern look.
"Don't let it happen again. You have been a good student, and I would dislike it to need to send a letter of concern to your guardian."
Shinji gulped. He wasn't too fond of the idea either.
"Yes sir. It won't happen again sir."
The frown softened around the edges. The old principal was known for being soft on his favourite students. "You may go now, Shinji. I expect this to be done by tomorrow."
"Yes sir" Shinji was silently relieved as he left the office. Having Misato lecture him about not doing schoolwork was not his idea of fun.
Bored out of his mind, Shinji logged onto 'The World's message board, to try and find something to block out the drone of the old teacher's lecture. Finding an interesting article, he started to read.
Bluedragon: I'm sure this has been asked a million times, but what is the staff of ages? I heard some players talking about it, but they didn't know much about it. Anyone care to fill me in?
Azrael: It doesn't exist. It is just a legend, nothing more.
Bluedragon: Are you sure? It could exist. Administrators have put 'legendary' items in the world before.
Azrael: It does not exist. Now stop posting nonsense.
Bluedragon: Ok, fine. But what is the legend behind it, at least?
This topic has been closed by system administration. We apologise for any inconvenience.
Shinji read the last part again, just to make sure he had seen it correctly. 'The administration never close topics… I wonder what they are hiding?'
Author's notes: ok, tweeny little chapter again, took forever to post. All I can say is that I am a busy person, and writing fanfiction does not rank very high on my 'to do' list. Year 11 schoolwork, my warhammer 40k army to paint, etc.
I have no idea when I'll next post, but keep checking every now and again.